Featured series 
Tag: Harvard School of Public Health
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Health
Study finds heavy drinking linked to higher stroke risk
A study found that while light and moderate drinkers appear to be at neither greater risk nor greater advantage than abstainers when it comes to ischemic stroke, the frequency of their alcohol consumption may modestly influence their risk. The findings reinforce the importance of the volume and frequency of alcohol consumption. “In this study, the…
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Health
Study casts doubt on claims that the medical malpractice system is plagued by frivolous lawsuits
The debate over medical malpractice litigation, which raged during the last presidential campaign, continues as a hot-button political and health care issue in the U.S. The Senate is expected to vote soon on legislation to impose a federal cap on noneconomic damages in malpractice suits, following on similar bills that passed the House of Representatives…
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Health
Study finds that both weight and exercise are key to longevity
Over 115,000 participants who were free of cardiovascular disease or cancer, who were between the ages of 30 and 55 and had filled out biennial health and lifestyle questionnaires between 1976 and 2000, were chosen for the study from the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses’ Health Study. The women answered questionnaires that asked on average…
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Health
Accumulated low-level lead exposure can lead to cataract development in men
According to lead author Debra A. Schaumberg, Sc.D., O.D., M.P.H. of BWH, “This research suggests that reduction of lead exposure throughout a man’s lifetime should help reduce his chances of developing cataracts and of requiring cataract surgery. By preventing or delaying the onset of this condition, many instances of blindness worldwide could be prevented.” In…
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Health
Elevated BMI may not increase risk of death among men with heart attack or stroke
“This study does not eliminate a small amount of risk for being overweight or obese,” said author Howard D. Sesso, Sc.D., M.P.H., of BWH. “However, it does tell physicians that BMI may not have a prominent role in predicting the future risk of death among men who may have already experienced the cardiovascular complications of…
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Campus & Community
Appetite hormone restores fertility
A hormone called leptin has been trumpeted as an appetite suppressor and a possible treatment for obesity. New research shows that “a clear connection also exists between fat, or energy storage, and the ability to reproduce,” says Corrine Welt, an assistant professor of medicine who works at Massachusetts General Hospital, a Harvard affiliate. The women…
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Health
Mechanism helps describe how airways respond to constriction
In asthma, substances such as allergens irritate the airways and cause the smooth muscle cells around them to contract. With repeated attacks, lung tissues become damaged from cycles of inflammation and repair. Scar tissue forms, which forces the airways to change their shape, or remodel. The airway walls become abnormally thick, potentially interfering with breathing.…
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Campus & Community
C-reactive protein, high blood pressure linked
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women’s Hospital found a strong link between levels of C-reactive protein in the blood and the future development of high blood pressure. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an indicator of inflammation and has already been linked to an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The research,…
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Health
For-profit health plans did not restrict Medicare beneficiaries’ use of high-cost operative procedures
Testing the hypothesis that rates of use of 12 high-cost procedures would be lower in for-profit health plans than in not-for-profit plans, researchers analyzed Medicare HEDIS (Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set) data on more than 3.7 million Medicare beneficiaries 65 years of age or older who were enrolled in 254 health plans in…
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Health
Coffee cuts diabetes risk
More than 125,000 study participants who were free of diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease at the start of a study were selected from the on-going Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital-based Nurses Health Study. Some 41,934 men were tracked from 1986 to 1998 and 84,276 women from1980 to 1998 via food…
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Health
Many Americans at high risk from flu not vaccinated
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highly recommends the flu vaccine for certain high-risk groups including people with chronic illnesses, children between the ages of six and 23 months, and people aged 65 and over. A national poll conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health Project on the Public and Biological Security found…
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Health
One combination of AIDS drugs appears better for starting treatment
Combination drug therapy – also called highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) – made a huge difference in the treatment of HIV infection during the 1990s, changing HIV/AIDS into an illness that people could live with for many years. Combinations of three antiviral drugs could keep the virus in check for a while, and when one…
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Science & Tech
More TV means fewer veggies
Harvard researchers tracked 548 sixth and seventh graders from public schools for 19 months. The children were asked to fill out surveys to determine the time they spent per day watching television, movies or videos; time spent per day on physical activities and how many fruits and vegetables they consumed daily. The average amount of…
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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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Health
Smoking increases bleeding into the brain, study finds
A research team at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) found that stroke risk for women increased proportionately with the number of cigarettes smoked each day. In contrast, women who stopped smoking were at no additional risk. The findings appeared in the Nov. 13, 2003 online edition of the journal, Stroke, a publication of the American…
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Campus & Community
Low-carb more effective than low-fat
A study put three groups of dieters on different regimens. They included a low-fat group, a low-carbohydrate group that ate the same number of calories, and a third group on a similar low-carbohydrate plan that included 300 extra calories a day. The low-carbohydrate dieters lost more weight than low-fat dieters despite eating 25,000 extra calories…
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Health
Improved procurement could more than double organ availability
Although millions of people across the country are registered organ donors, only 2 percent of them annually suffer brain death and meet the other medical requirements for being a cadaveric donor. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services suggests that the number of actual donors may be further limited by organ procurement organizations that…
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Health
Tobacco deaths a developing problem
Research published in the Sept. 13, 2003 issue of the medical journal The Lancet shows that global tobacco deaths were about 4.8 million in 2000, with about 2.4 million each in developing and industrialized nations. “The bottom line is that tobacco at this point in time is no longer [just] a Western problem,” said Harvard…
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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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Health
Black lung redux
There are approximately 500,000 asphalt workers in the United States today who have significantly increased risk of lung, stomach, bladder, and nonmelanoma skin cancer – yet little is known about this particular occupational hazard, and it was rarely studied until the early 1990s. Mike McClean, a researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health, is…
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Health
Adding years to your life
A research team did the first global study of the potential increase in life expectancy if 20 well-known risk factors could be eliminated or reduced to safer levels. These factors include overnourishment and undernourishment, unsafe sex, high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol, tobacco, alcohol and other drugs, polluted water, poor sanitation, and certain on-the-job risks. “We…
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Health
Anti-inflammatory drugs may reduce Parkinson’s disease risk
In the first study to investigate the potential benefit in humans of the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in reducing the risk of Parkinson’s disease, Harvard School of Public Health researchers found that regular users of these drugs had a lower risk for Parkinson’s disease than non-users. More than 44,000 men and nearly 99,000…
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Science & Tech
Climate, asthma connected, according to research
Christine Rogers, a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health, measures particulates – pollen grains and fungal spores – in outdoor air and correlates levels with asthma events. She also examines how those particulate levels might change over time because of global warming. “One of the most predictable effects of global warming is…
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Health
Researcher studies effects of terrorist attacks on office workers near WTC site
Since 1971, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has conducted 1,200 investigations into indoor air. Last fall, the agency undertook an investigation unlike all the others. Aided by a Harvard School of Public Health scientist, Ashok Nimgade, a NIOSH research team evaluated the physical and mental health problems of office workers near “ground…
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Health
Close adherence to traditional Mediterranean diet promotes longevity
The traditional Mediterranean diet features an abundance of vegetables, legumes, fruits, nuts and cereals and regular use of olive oil (monounsaturated fats), moderate amounts of fish and dairy products (mostly yogurt or cheese), small amounts of red meat (low intake of saturated fats) and moderate consumption of alcohol, usually in the form of wine and…
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Health
Generous portions of TV make women fat
The first study to compare the effects of inactivity on obesity and diabetes concludes that being a couch potato significantly raises the risk of both diseases. “Our data provide strong evidence that sedentary behaviors, especially prolonged TV watching, are directly related to the risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes,” reports Frank Hu, leader of…
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Science & Tech
Area universities enhance regional economy
Harvard and seven other Greater Boston research universities took center stage in their role as the area’s special economic advantage: magnets for talent and investment that infuse more than $7 billion into the regional economy each year. At a Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce breakfast, leaders from the universities, including President Lawrence H. Summers, President…
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Health
Study shows acrylamide in baked and fried foods does not increase risk of certain cancers in humans
Animal and laboratory studies in the past have indicated that acrylamide, a potentially carcinogenic substance, is found in elevated levels in certain foods, such as potato chips, French fries, cereals and biscuits. Acrylamide appears to form as a result of a reaction between specific amino acids and sugars found in foods when heated to high…
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Health
CRP shown to predict heart disease among patients with metabolic syndrome
It is estimated that over 50 million people in the United States have at least three of the five medical problems that result in a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome. In a study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), 14,719 female participants were followed for eight years. Among those followed, 3,597 women were diagnosed with metabolic…