While persistent depression is associated with increased risk of stroke, the findings of a study by Pop Center faculty members Laura Kubzansky, Ichiro Kawachi, and Maria Glymour, and colleagues, suggest that this elevated risk can be eliminated if depressive symptoms are reduced.
Optimism linked to reduced risk of death from several major causes among women
Laura Kubzansky, PhD, a Harvard Pop Center faculty member, is an author on a study that has found that women who were the most optimistic were less likely to die from diseases analyzed, including cancer, heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, and infection, over the course of the study. The findings are published in The American Journal of Epidemiology. Learn more in this press release by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Look on the bright side; it could help to preserve your cognitive functioning as you age
Harvard Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky, PhD, is an author on a paper published in Psychosomatic Medicine that has found that those older adults who are the most optimistic are the least likely to suffer cognitive impairment as they age.
Early childhood social disadvantage linked to risky health behaviors in adulthood
A new study by former Harvard RWJF Health & Society Scholar Amy Non, and Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky published in the Annals of Human Biology finds that children who experienced early social disadvantage were, as adults, almost four times as likely to smoke, three times more likely to be obese, and almost five times more likely to drink alcohol excessively (women only).
Higher emotional vitality associated with lower risk of stroke
Harvard Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky, PhD, and Robert Wood Johnson Health & Society Scholars program alumna Rebecca Thurston, PhD, are authors on a paper in Health Psychology that expands on the research linking positive psychological health with lower risk for heart disease to explore the impact of emotional vitality on risk of stroke.
Long-term depression may double stroke risk in adults over 50
Harvard Pop Center faculty members Laura Kubzansky, PhD, Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, and M. Maria Glymour, ScD, are co-authors on a ground-breaking study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association that indicates that even when depressive symptoms have subsided, the higher risk of stroke still remains, particularly for women. Learn more in this Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health news brief, in this spot on NPR, and…
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Researchers revisit Mendelian Randomization studies of effect of BMI on depression
Harvard Pop Center faculty members Laura Kubzansky, PhD, Ichiro Kawachi, MD, PhD, and M. Maria Glymour, PhD, have co-authored a study published in American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics that revisits Mendelian Randomization studies (analyses based on genetic instrumental variables) of the effect of body mass index (BMI) on depression.
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.
A reason to reduce anxiety, and an opportunity to do so!
We’ve long known that anxiety puts people at risk for coronary heart disease, but now a nationally representative longitudinal study of the US population has shown that anxiety also increases the risk of stroke. Pop Center faculty member Laura Kubzansky and RWJF alum Rebecca Thurston co-authored the study, which was published in Stroke. And speaking of reducing anxiety, please join us for a cup of tea on April 28th, when we kick off…
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