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A first look at cardiovascular disease among an older (and newer) population

Populations in middle-income countries, in many cases, are aging at a faster rate than high-income countries, and these countries typically lack the resources that help to meet the health challenges that coincide with living longer. A new study by a team of HAALSI researchers, including Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman and faculty member Stephen Tollman, characterizes the CVD profile for older subset of individuals within the aging population, and…

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Latin American women migrants with lower-level job and children at greater risk of becoming head of family household in Spain

Sociologist Xiana Bueno, PhD, a recent Harvard postdoctoral fellow, and her colleague have published a study in Journal of Family Issues that has found that certain Latin American women who migrated to Spain during the Great Recession were more likely to become head of their family household.

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Non-health government expenditure found to be associated with reduction in infant mortality rate inequalities in LMICs

A study published in Health Economics, Policy and Law has found non-health government spending to be associated with lower inequalities in infant mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries, whereas health government expenditure was not. Harvard Pop Center faculty member Mauricio Avendano is an author on the study.

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New HAALSI study findings: Education negates height disparity in cognitive function for older adults living in South Africa

A study published by HAALSI researchers, including recent Harvard Bell Fellow Lindsay Kobayashi, Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, and faculty members S V Subramanian (Subu), Kathleen Kahn, and Stephen Tollman, finds that while short stature may be a risk factor for cognitive function among older adults living in South Africa, education was found to negate the relationship between height disparity and cognitive function.

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Study finds health problems persist for women who experienced workplace sexual harassment, assault

Rebecca C. Thurston, PhD, a former Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar, is lead author on a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine that has published these timely findings receiving coverage in The Washington Post, the Huffington Post and the New York Post.

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Can programs that promote well-being help to improve cardiovascular health?

Given the strong connection between optimism (and other signposts of psychological well-being) and cardiovascular health, Laura Kubzansky and colleagues recommend in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) that rigorous interventions be designed to evaluate programs geared towards promoting psychological well-being.

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Adolescent health: One quarter of global population receiving only 1.6% of funding

A study published in JAMA Network Open by faculty member Chunling Lu of the Harvard Medical School has found that in developing countries, those in their formative years—a segment of the population that is critical for future economic health— is being overlooked when it comes to spending on health projects, particularly ones focused on serious issues such as anemia, injuries and depressive disorders. The findings have received attention in the press including…

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How can we evaluate how well a country is handling the demographic shift to becoming an aging society?

A team of researchers, including collaborator and Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, PhD, has developed a multidimensional index that measures how well a country is handling the transition to having an increasingly larger proportion of older adults by evaluating status across five domains. The results, published in PNAS, indicate that while the U.S. scored well in the areas of productivity and engagement, the country ranked near the bottom in equity.