Research@Public Health 

Neighborhood/City of Boston

City of Boston, Boston Centers for Youth and Family, 2004 Boston Youth Survey, in collaboration with the Harvard School of Public Health (8/05): this is a survey of Boston 9th-12th graders covering demographics, school and educational aspirations,  feelings about self and future, health and physical activities, out-of-school activities,  community resources, exposure to violence - including witnessing, perpetration, and victimization, safety concerns, discrimination and harassment, mental health, gang activity and gun availability, neighborhood drug use, contact with police, relationships with others, and use of technology.

Boston Public Health Commission, Health of Boston 2005 (7/05): a comprehensive annual report on the health status of Boston residents featuring data by race/ethnicity, age, and gender, with charts and graphs by neighborhood.

The Disparities Project (6/05): the launch of the Boston Public Health Commission and Mayor Thomas M. Menino’s new health initiative to address racial and ethnic disparities. Data Report.  Mayor's Task Force Blueprint Report.  Hospital Working Group Report. 

Boston Public Health Commission, Boston Natality 2004: a Review of 2002 Birth Data (7/04): in-depth statistics on births, maternal and infant characteristics, and infant mortality, highlighting disparities by race/ethnicity.

Boston Public Health Commission,  The Health of Boston 2004 Chartbook (6/04): the annual report on health status, featuring both city-wide data by race/ethnicity, age and sex, as well as charts and graphs by neighborhood. The Health of Boston 2003 Chartbook.

Boston Public Health Commission,  Taking Action – Understanding Health Inequities (4/04): the potential impact of various factors on health disparities, including education, income, race, racism, socio-economic conditions, environmental exposures, stress, health behaviors and the provision of care.


Metro Boston/Massachusetts/New England 

Massachusetts Health Council, Common Health for the Commonwealth: Massachusetts Trends in Determinants of Health (10/06): Looks at public health indicators across ten topic areas, highlighting recent increases in violence, asthma, and school drop-outs, but also revealing a drop in the number of uninsured residents.

Massachusetts Public Health Association, Strengthening Local Public Health in Massachusetts: A Call to Action (6/06): Reports on a survey of local public health authorities. Existing staff shortages, compounded by the fact that 18% of public health employees eligible to retire within 2 years raises questions about the future health of public health services.

Massachusetts Council of Human Service Providers, The Future of Human Services Workforce in Massachusetts (pdf) (4/06): This report outlines the long-term need for more human service workers, and the difficulties of recruiting and retaining these workers given low pay and difficult work conditions.

Rappaport Institute, Policy Notes, Volume 3, Number 1 (2/06): presents a series of papers that examine census-tract level health disparities in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and finds that poorer health outcomes for blacks and Hispanics relative to whites are due largely to higher rates of poverty.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health - Division of Health Care Quality, Nursing Home Satisfaction Survey (12/05): a survey of family members of the residents of the state’s nursing homes about their satisfaction with nursing home staff, meals, activities, residents’ rights, and care.  297 of 449 eligible nursing homes in the state participated.

Associated Industries of Massachusetts with Polestar Communications & Strategic Analysis, Massachusetts Health Care Reform: A Backgrounder on Legislative Proposals and Initiatives (11/05): a paper prepared for reference use by AIM’s 7,600 members, which offer health care benefits to their 600,000 employees.  The report summarizes the history and current state of health care in Massachusetts, reviews the options for reform in the immediate future, discusses the implications for employers of the three plans currently under consideration, and advocates for collaboration between business and government and consideration of the concerns of businesses.

Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston, Policy Notes, Volume 2, Number 2  (6/05): highlights policy-related research about Greater Boston, including the impact of Massachusetts' smoking ban, barriers to the adoption of children from foster care, and the link between socioeconomic status and mental illness.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts Foundation,  Building the Roadmap to Coverage: Policy Choices and the Cost and Coverage Implications (6/05): strategies for expanding health coverage and analysis of the implications for each option – an estimated 532,000 Massachusetts residents lack health insurance.

Massachusetts Medical Society, 2005 Physician Workforce Study (6/05): finds physician shortages in 6 key specialties, and presents data on reduced access to health care and longer wait times for patients  - 15% of citizens polled report that getting health care is “extremely difficult,” up from 9% in 2004 and 7% in 2003.  Press release.   Executive summary.

Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Practice Environment Index (4/05): analyzes nine statistical factors that shape patient care – findings include increasing liability costs, housing costs that are rising more than twice the rate of physician income, and a 3% rise in physicians aged 55 and older.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration,  State Estimates of Substance Use from the 2002–2003 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health (2/05): prevalence of illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, and serious mental illness among adults by state - Massachusetts ranks in the top fifth for drug and alcohol use but in the bottom fifth for tobacco use.

The Boston Foundation and Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, Funding Cuts to Public Health in Massachusetts: Losses over Gains (6/04): analyzes how state budget cuts are affecting health outcomes. In Boston, Hepatitis A infections doubled after elimination of state funding for the vaccine in July 2003 and whooping cough among Boston public school students increased following cuts in school health clinics and services.

Massachusetts Department of Public Health,  Incidence and Mortality in Massachusetts, 1998-2002  (5/05): rates for 23 types of cancers, details about the most commonly occurring types, a special section on lung cancer, and a comparison with national data - over the five year time period, 171,729 new cancer cases were diagnosed.  Press Release.

Nation’s Voice on Mental Illness, The  State of Mental Health Services in Massachusetts: the Impact of Inadequate Funding (4/04): the effects in areas such as homelessness, the corrections system, hospital emergency room treatment, and community programs.

Health Care for All, Physician Diversity in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Where Are We? What Can Be Done (4/04): analyzes the lack of diversity in Massachusetts’ physician workforce and recommends steps for change -  Only 3.2% of physicians are black and Latino. Massachusetts fact sheet.

From the 2002 Boston Indicators Report Archive:

Massachusetts Health Council reports on health trends.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Foundation and the Urban Institute analyze medical care for the uninsured.

Newest health indicators released by Massachusetts Department of Public Health.


The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies Reports on the Consequences of “Uninsurance,” Proposing Guidelines for Universal Coverage.

Newest Health Indicators released by Massachusetts Department of Public Health.

Lifelong approaches to weight control pushed for New England.

National

Smart Growth BC, Promoting public health through Smart Growth (pdf) (3/06): reviews research on transportation-related health impacts, such as Physical Activity and Obesity and Traffic Safety.  Recommends smart-growth land use planning.

National Alliance for the Mentally Ill,  Grading the States 2006 (3/06): an assessment of mental health care in the United States.  Presented as an interactive website, the NAMI assigns the nation a grade of D, and Massachusetts a C-, slightly above the national average and well below Connecticut's B, which tied with Ohio for best in the nation.  Massachusetts also ranked below Maine (B-) and Rhode Island (C).

National Sleep Foundation,  2006 Sleep in America Poll (3/06): a poll of 1,600 adolescents (ages 11-17, in grades 6-12) and their adult caregivers, conducted between September and November 2005, finds that the average amount of sleep that adolescents get declines with age, and that nearly half get an inadequate amount of sleep on school nights.

National Center for Health Statistics, Deaths: Final Data for 2003 (2/06): information on all deaths in the U.S. in 2003, with analysis of long-term trends.  The American Cancer Society reports that deaths from cancer decreased for the first time since the government began keeping statistics on death in 1930.  Although the decline is slight, it is believed to be the start of a downward trend, as improvements in prevention, detection, and treatment win out over population factors that have been driving the rates up.  Additionally, as tobacco use has declined, death rates from lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer deaths, have decreased.

The Sierra Club and Greenpeace, An Investigation of Factors Related to Levels of Mercury in Human Hair (2/06): a report completed in October 2005 by the University of North Carolina - Asheville's Environmental Quality Institute finds that more than one in five women of childbearing age (16-49) in the U.S. has levels of mercury above the E.P.A.'s recommended "Reference Dose" limit.

American College of Emergency Physicians, The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine (1/06): an assessment of emergency medical care in the United States.  Presented as an interactive website, the ACEP assigns the nation a grade of C-, and Massachusetts a B, a tie for best in the nation with California, Connecticut, and Washington, D.C.

Northwestern University (several authors), Midlife Body Mass Index and Hospitalization and Mortality in Older Age (1/06): finds that middle-aged overweight people are at increased risk of heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes, even if their blood pressure and cholesterol levels are normal at midlife.  The JAMA abstract is free, but the full article is only available for a fee.

MetroWest Community Health Care Foundation, Health Data Book & Atlas (pdf, 2.0 Mb) (11/05): an update of the 2002 report for the 25 communities of the MetroWest area finds that the residents of these towns are generally healthier than people in Massachusetts, and as healthy as or healthier than people in comparable towns around the Commonwealth.  There is room for improvement which varies significantly from town to town and with race and ethnicity.

United Nations, Millennium Development Goals (9/05): a report on progress toward the eight Millennium Development Goals, which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015.  It finds that the gap between rich and poor is widening globally.

The Commonwealth Fund, Role of States in Improving Health and Health Care for Young Children (pdf) (7/05): options, opportunities and challenges for states, including promoting a common vision, defining indicators of quality, educating parents, making the business case for quality, and financing.

U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States, 125th Edition (6/05): a thorough analysis of data on Americans with revealing findings, such as the fact that Americans now don’t play as many sports as in the past, and watch more television, especially sports.

Oregon Health & Science University, National Survey of Children’s Health, 2003 (06/05): a nationwide survey of more than 100,000 households with children aged 0-17 with information about childrens’ health that allows for comparisons among states.

Neighborhood Residence and Mental Health Problems of 5- to 11-Year-Olds (pdf), Yange Xue, PhD; Tama Leventhal, PhD; Jeanne Brooks-Gunn, PhD; Felton J. Earls, MD Arch Gen Psychiatry. 2005;62:554-563.

The Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Center. Data Resource Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Provides easy access to tables with state-level data from the National Survey of Children’s Health (2003) and the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs (2001).

Kogan MD, Newacheck PW, Honberg L, et al. 2005. Association between under insurance and access to care among children with special health care needs in the United States. Pediatrics 116(5):1162-1169. The authors find that for families with children with special health care needs insufficient health insurance coverage is a much larger problem than no insurance.

Families USA, Paying a Premium: The Added Cost of Care for the Uninsured  (5/05): quantifies the dollar impact of care to the uninsured on private health insurance premiums.  Press release.  Massachusetts fact sheet. 

AARP,  Trends in Manufacturer Prices of Brand Name Prescription Drugs Used by Older Americans: 2004 Year-End Update (4/05): the increase in the average price charged by drug manufacturers outpaced inflation for the fifth year in a row.  Press release.

United States Conference of Mayors – SODEXHO USA,  Hunger and Homelessness Survey (12/04): hunger and homelessness is rising in major American cities including Boston, where more than 81% percent of food pantries and 54% of soup kitchens sponsored by Project Bread reported increased need in past years. Press Release.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2003 National Survey on Drug Use & Health (9/04): prevalence of substance abuse, serious mental health conditions and treatment options.

United Health Foundation, State Health Rankings (2004): state rankings according to personal behaviors, community environment, health policies and outcomes. Massachusetts has ranked in the top ten among states for 14 of the publication’s 15 editions. Massachusetts Snapshot.

From the 2002 Boston Indicators Report Archive:

American Cancer Society releases annual report on cancer prevention and early detection.

Poll shows Americans more willing to support measures to curb childhood obesity.  

The Commonwealth Fund targets health disparities.

Families USA reports negative health care trends.

National Health Policy Forum reports on community health centers.