News from the PRI Library and Data Archive » Health

AIDS is leading cause of death and disease in women

Tara Murray — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:56:08 +0000

In a study of women’s health around the globe, the World Health Organization (WHO) found that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease in women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to an Associated Press story.

The full report, Women and health: Today’s evidence tomorrow’s agenda, is available online from WHO.

Does marriage lead to weight gain?

Tara Murray — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:30:44 +0000

TIME Magazine features research by nutritionists using Add Health Romantic Pairs data showing that married people are much more likely than those who are dating to gain weight.

See also: The, N. S., & Gordon-Larsen, P. (2009). Entry into romantic partnership is associated with obesity. Obesity.

Journal of Adolescent Health: Special issue on adolescent obesity

Tara Murray — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:54:54 +0000

The September 2009 supplement to Journal of Adolescent Health is themed Adolescent Obesity: Towards Evidence-Based Policy and Environmental Solutions, and is available for free on the journal’s web site.

NCHS 2008 U.S. Health Report

Lisa Broniszewski — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:34:57 +0000

This is an annual report on trends in health statistics from NCHS. The PDF files for the complete, executive summary, and highlights are available at this link. There is also a special “Chartbook on Young Adult Health”.

NHANES: 2011-12 Soliciting Input

Lisa Broniszewski — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:55:47 +0000

If you would like to comment or add additional questionnaire, lab, or exam components for the 2011-12 NHANES wave, please read the memo (PDF) from NHANES director, Dr. Clifford Johnson.

The deadline for submitting items for the Examination component is June 30, 2009.

NSFB data available on SodaPop

Kiet Bang — Tue, 05 May 2009 13:29:15 +0000

The National Study of Fertility Barriers is a nationally representative telephone survey of women age 25-45. The focus of the survey is biomedical fertility barriers including subfecundity, repeated miscarriages, health conditions that preclude childbearing, and sterilization regret. The data is available to all researchers but registration is required before data is released.

For more information on the NSFB and instructions on registering to obtain access, see the NSFB SodaPop page.

DHS report links social and economic characteristics, HIV prevalence

Tara Murray — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 20:42:33 +0000

A new report from MACRO International/MEASURE DHS (PDF), using data from 22 developing countries, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa, finds that HIV prevalence is linked to social and economic characteristics. This may reflect an association between these characteristics and sexual risk-taking.

2008 Pennsylvania Health Insurance Survey

Tara Murray — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 13:40:41 +0000

A survey of health insurance in Pennsylvania found that more than 1 million Pennsylvanians, mostly employed adults, lack health insurance (Philadelphia Inquirer).

The 2008 Health Insurance Survey research report and county statistics, as well as the 2004 survey results, are available online from the Pennsylvania Insurance Department.

Virginia Tech researchers create synthetic US population

Tara Murray — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 16:33:34 +0000

Researchers at Virginia Tech have created a synthetic US population based on Census data, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Wired Campus.

The model runs on a supercomputer and assigns demographic characteristics to fake individuals based on real data, as reported in IEEE Spectrum. The model could be used to study any number of social science problems, and researchers are currently using it to study flu transmission.

For more, included selected publications, see the EpiSims project web page.

Costs drive Americans to skip care

Tara Murray — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 14:06:14 +0000

More than half of Americans with chronic conditions skip medication or doctor appointments because of costs, according to a new survey by The Commonwealth Fund (New York Times).

Citation: Schoen, C., Osborn, R., How, S. K., Doty, M. M., and Peugh, J. (2008). In chronic condition: Experiences of patients with complex health care needs, in eight countries, 2008. Health Affairs.