Featured series 
Tag: Harvard Center for Risk Analysis
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Campus & Community
Warnings about fish consumption and mercury overstated
A comparison of the risks and benefits of fish consumption suggests that government advisories warning women of childbearing age about mercury exposure should be issued with caution. The study warns that if advisories cause people to eat less fish out of fear about the effects of mercury, substantial nutritional benefits could be lost. The study…
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Health
Strategies to help AIDS patients take medicines are cost effective
The effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy for HIV infection depends on how well patients adhere to complicated drug regimens. Researchers found that among patients with lower levels of adherence to their medication regimen, even very expensive, moderately effective adherence interventions are likely to offer cost-effective benefits that compare favorably with other interventions in HIV disease. The…
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Science & Tech
New busing controversy flares up
James Hammitt, professor at the School of Public Health, and his colleagues have spent the past three years doing risk analyses of buses with conventional diesel engines and emission-controlled diesel engines versus buses that run on natural gas. To compare, the researchers used a conventional measurement known as the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY). It says essentially…
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Science & Tech
New approach to cervical cancer screening could save lives
When caught early through a Pap test, cervical cancer is almost 100 percent preventable, with treatment of precancers. Compared with current practice, shifting women currently getting annual conventional Pap tests to a schedule of Pap tests once every three years (using a new liquid-based technology that allows for extraction of DNA from cells taken in…
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Science & Tech
Analysis of potential mad cow risk in U.S. finds little chance of disease spread
The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA), part of the Harvard School of Public Health, performed an analysis for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to determine what the effects would be if “mad cow” disease were introduced into the United States. Mad cow disease, which is the popular term for bovine spongiform encephalopathy, has not…
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Health
Study shows strong public interest in genetic testing for Alzheimer’s disease
A genetic test to determine a person’s chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease is still hypothetical. But scientists are getting closer and closer to being able to determine who is likely to get the disease. A study by Harvard researchers and their colleagues found that, once such a genetic test is developed, approximately 80 percent of…
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Science & Tech
Medicaid coverage for anti-AIDS drugs would be cost effective
It’s long been said that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” A new study from the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis applies the principle to treating HIV-infected people with antiretroviral drugs, the so-called “AIDS cocktail.” Under Medicare rules, people without health insurance can’t get treatment until they develop full-blown AIDS and…
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Science & Tech
Study examines hazardous seating of children in fatal motor vehicle crashes
A recent study by Harvard School of Public Health scientists examined how often adults placed children in the rear of vehicles, and what factors affected that placement. The study, led by Eve Wittenberg of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, examined more than 28,000 fatal crashes between 1990 and 1998. The proportion of vehicles carrying…
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Science & Tech
Preventing cervical cancer in developing nations
Cervical cancer kills approximately 190,000 women each year, most of them in developing nations. It is the third most common cancer world wide. Women who live in more affluent nations have access to Papanicolaou (Pap) tests, which allow pre-cancerous lesions to be detected and treated before they develop into full-blown cancer. But such screening and…
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Science & Tech
Depiction of alcohol, tobacco use in G-rated animated films still high
Alcohol and tobacco use is depicted as normal behavior in nearly half of G-rated animated feature films. While researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health say that this is a slight decline, they note that “trends do not provide a strong indication of a commitment from the film industry to eliminate the depiction of…
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Health
Testing to identify drug-resistant AIDS strains is cost-effective
A new study led by the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in March 2001, finds that testing people with HIV to determine whether they have a drug-resistant strain of the virus is a cost-effective use of resources in the battle against HIV. In fact, the study finds that…
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Science & Tech
Drivers place children in rear seat because of new law
A Rhode Island law that requires that children sit in the back and wear proper restraints imposes fines of $30 for violation of the rear seating requirement and $150 for violation of the restraint requirement. The law was passed after research by Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Director John Graham and others showed that, nationwide,…