The measurement of allostatic load (cumulative biological dysregulation related to life course stressors) varies widely across studies, making it difficult to rely on the measurement to help predict mortality. An analysis published in Psychoneuroendocrinology has pinpointed five biomarkers that predict mortality as accurately as more elaborate batteries of tests, enabling the researchers, including Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman, to offer recommendations for more efficient biomarker collection in future allostatic…
In the current issue of Harvard Public Health Magazine, Harvard Pop Center research projects (and researchers) are getting some attention. The book “Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer” co-edited by HCPDS Director Lisa Berkman and Visiting Scientist Beth C. Truesdale is spotlighted in the “Bookshelf” section, and novel research by Faculty Member S (Subu) V Subramanian and Visiting Scientist Rockli Kim that mapped undernutrition across India’s…
In response to the opioid epidemic and the additional strains of the pandemic, a study published in Social Science & Medicine parses out which socio-contextual factors were found to be affecting provider health and turnover. Authors include HCPDS Director Lisa Berkman, faculty member Laura Kubzansky and former postdoctoral fellow Erika Sabbath. Photo: Pix4free.org
Co-editors Beth Truesdale and Lisa Berkman penned an op-ed in honor of Labor Day that shares insights from their new book (that drops tomorrow!), “Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer.”
Book Launch Event for “Overtime: America’s Aging Workforce and the Future of Working Longer,” co-edited by Lisa Berkman and Beth Truesdale. Join the editors for a conversation about a challenge that many Americans are facing— and will be confronting— in the years ahead: is a delayed retirement a realistic, practical and tenable option for all of us as we attempt to become better financially prepared for retirement? Policymakers are assuming…
In honor of the American Journal of Public Health’s 100th anniversary, a commentary by HCPDS Director Lisa Berkman, faculty member Mauricio Avendano, and former Bell Fellow Emilie Courtin spreads enthusiasm about how the implementation of social randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and natural experiments that utilize observational data can help to advance the field of social epidemiology, and to illustrate… “…how credible social policy reforms may be instrumental to address health…
A recent study based on data from the project “Health and Aging in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa” (HAALSI) suggests that social capital theory (the concept that the higher socioeconomic status of your contacts can have positive health impacts as they are a type of interpersonal resource) applies not only in higher-income settings, but in a more resource-limited, rural setting in South Africa as…
This study published in the journal Stroke aims to build upon (and refine) existing evidence linking depression to higher risk of stroke by assessing the relationship between depressive symptoms and stroke risk over time, “given the remitting-relapsing nature of depressive symptoms.” Authors include HCPDS Director Lisa Berkman, and faculty members Ichiro Kawachi and Laura Kubzansky.
With more people living longer and healthier lives, along with a simultaneous decline in fertility rates, societies are facing a challenge to adapt to this “rectangularization” of the demographic pyramid. In this piece on the increase in life expectancy and “health span” in The Harvard Gazette, Harvard Pop Center Director Lisa Berkman explains how this trend could improve our work force, and how it may be contributing to our national…
