Being Socially Well-Integrated Reduces Risk of Suicide

A 24-year prospective cohort study authored by Harvard RWJF Health & Societies Scholar Program Alum Alexander Tsai and Harvard Pop Center affiliated faculty member Ichiro Kawachi indicates that middle-aged men who are well-integrated socially have more than a 2-fold reduced risk for suicide. Being married, having a larger social network, and attending religious services on a regular basis showed the strongest protective associations. This study was published online July 14…

The Impact of Childhood Social Disadvantage

How does social disadvantage in childhood correlate to cardiometabolic function and chronic disease status 40 years down the line? RWJF alumna Amy Non, along with Pop Center faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, Matthew Gilman, and Laura Kubzansky, take a look at how adverse social environments in early life play out across the life course. The study has been published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

Are older sexual partners a major risk factor for HIV for young women in sub-Saharan Africa?

Although it is commonly thought that older sexual partners are a major risk factor for HIV for young women in sub-Saharan Africa (and there have been public health campaigns launched to discourage these relationships) in a recent study co-authored by Harvard Pop Center affiliated faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, SV Subramanian, and Till Bärnighausen partner age-disparity did not predict HIV acquisition amongst young women.

No Link Found Between Omega-3 Fatty Acids Intake and Lowered Risk of Suicide

Harvard Pop Center affiliated researchers Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, and former RWJF scholar Alexander Tsai, MD, PhD, are authors of a large study that examined the link between fatty acid intake and suicide, which sets it apart from the majority of similar studies of its size which focused more on just depression.

Harvard Pop Center researchers investigate effect of urban sprawl on body mass index among displaced Hurricane Katrina survivors

Three Harvard Pop Center-affiliated researchers, Yerby Fellow Mariana Arcaya, ScD, and faculty members Mary C. Waters, PhD,  and S.V. Subramanian, PhD, have provided the first natural experimental data on urban sprawl and body mass index (BMI). Their research results suggest that built environment may foster changes in weight.

Kawachi co-authors paper on effects of stress at work and home on two important contributors to cardiovascular disease

Pop Center-affiliated faculty member Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, Professor of Social Epidemiology and Chair, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at HSPH, and former RWJF scholar Amy Non who was at the Pop Center from 2010 – 2012, have co-authored a study that investigates the effects of stress at work and at home on inflammation and endothelial dysfunction, two important contributors to the development of cardiovascular disease.

Team of Harvard Pop Center researchers publish paper on impact of unemployment on smoking and drinking

A team of Harvard Pop Center researchers, including current Yerby Fellow Mariana Arcaya, and Pop Center-affiliated faculty members Maria Glymour, Ichiro Kawachi, and SV Subramanian, have published a paper in Social Science & Medicine that looks at individual and spousal unemployment as predictors of smoking and drinking behavior.

What is driving the growing geographical inequalities in suicide in Japan?

Pop Center faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, and SV Subramanian, PhD, are co-authors on a study that examines this question in a paper titled “Prefecture-level economic conditions and risk of suicide in Japan: a repeated cross-sectional analysis 1975–2010” which has been published in the European Journal of Public Health.

Socioeconomic status and obesity in Cairo, Egypt: A heavy burden for all

Egypt has an extremely high obesity rate–much higher than would be expected given the country’s level of economic development. How does this paradox affect the correlation between SES and obesity? Faculty members Ichiro Kawachi, SV Subramanian, and Allan Hill conducted a study which found that obesity is prevalent across the SES spectrum in Cairo, i.e. there are no marked correlations between obesity and SES measures such as education, household expenditures,…