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NIH Opportunity Network to Expand Basic Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OppNet)
November 18, 2009
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D., today announced the launch of the Basic Behavioral and Social Science Opportunity Network (OppNet).
NIH’s Role in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)
NIH is well positioned to fund the best science in pursuit of improving the length and the quality of the lives of our citizens, while at the same time stimulating the economy.
May 3-8, 2009
OBSSR Holds First Institute on Systems Science and Health
OBSSR and CDC teamed up to produce the first Institute on Systems Science and Health (ISSH) which was held May 3-8, 2009.
March 06, 2009
OBSSR Hosts Conference on Dissemination, Implementation
Harvard Medical School’s
Dr. Jim Yong Kim
As a way to improve public health in a battered world, understanding poverty counts as much as knowing how proteins fold.
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November 20, 2009,
3:00 PM to 4:00 PM
The Challenges and Opportunities of Interdisciplinary Research: The Case of Genetics and Demography
December 2, 2009,
8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m
SYMPOSIUM #2: EDUCATION
March 15 – 16, 2010
3rd Annual NIH Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation: Methods and Measurement
Registration now open until February 12, 2010
July 11-23, 2010
9th Annual Summer Institute on Design and Conduct of Randomized Clinical Trials (RCT) Involving Behavioral Interventions,
Application Deadline: January 15, 2010
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Home > Scientific Areas > Social & Cultural Factors in Health > Health Disparities
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Health Disparities |
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Scientific research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has resulted in great benefits to the general population of the United States. NIH-funded research has led to improved diagnostic approaches, better treatment, and enhanced prevention; as a result we have witnessed significant declines in morbidity and mortality from numerous diseases. Consequently, the overall US population can expect not only to live longer but to be more productive and to enjoy a higher quality of life. However, not all segments of the American population have experienced these gains to the same degree. For example, African American, Native Americans, and low socioeconomic status (SES) populations continue to experience substantial disparities in the burden of disease and death when compared to the European-Americans and higher SES populations. Because the existence of racial/ethnic, social class, and rural-urban health disparities are to a large extent influenced by behavioral and social factors, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research is committed to developing better knowledge of their specific causes and participating in finding solutions.
Pathways Linking Education to Health
RFA OB-03-001
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OB-03-001.html
Background
On January 8, 2003 the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBBSR), in collaboration with NCI, NIA, and NICHD, issued a RFA calling for R01 grant applications on Pathways Linking Education to Health. The goal of this RFA was to increase the level and diversity of research directed at elucidating the causal pathways and mechanisms that may underlie the association between education and health. Ultimately, OBSSR provided funds for 13 grants, involving several methodological approaches and study populations. (See Table.) During the first two years of the awards, OBSSR convened the PIs in informational exchanges concerning their projects.
A Sample of Findings
Using changes in state compulsory schooling laws as natural experiments (instruments) for estimating the effect of education on memory and mental status among the elderly, researchers found that increases in mandatory schooling lead to improvements in performance on memory tests many decades after school completion. Results help to establish a causal effect of education on old age cognition (Berkman, AG023399).
Higher education significantly increased the odds of being screened for hypercholesterolemia overall and within each race/ethnic group. Focusing public health policy on increasing screening for individuals with low education might greatly improve their chances of preventing or mitigating morbidity related to hypercholesterolemia and subsequent cardiovascular disease (Crimins, AG03347).
Literacy mediated the relationship between education and gylcemic control in a low-income population with diabetes (Karter, HD046113).
The benefits of education for health operate not only through improvements in economic status, but also by affecting patterns of thinking and decision-making (Paxson, HD046162).
The gender gap in depression disappears among persons with a college degree or higher. Education increases work creativity more sharply for women than for men, thereby reducing depression. Education increases the sense of control for both sexes equally, but depression declines more steeply for women as sense of control increases (Ross, AG023380).
The health benefits associated with additional years of schooling have risen sharply over time. One component of this increasing health value to schooling rests in a growing disparity by education in the probability of having major chronic diseases during middle age. A component of the rising value of schooling rests in improved disease management (Smith, AG023363).
A study of the effects of health on education examined the effects of a childhood nutritional supplementation program on schooling outcomes, cognitive achievement, and abstract reasoning. Results indicate significantly positive, and fairly substantial, effects of the randomized intervention a quarter century after it ended (Stein, HD046125).
Mothers with a higher education are less likely to be smoking at conception and are more likely to quit during pregnancy, in effect widening the educational disparity in smoking over the course of pregnancy. However, women with less education were no more likely to relapse after pregnancy than women with a higher level of educational attainment (Hair, HD046123).
Pathways Linking Education to Health
Grants Awarded under RFA OB-03-001
Issued January 8, 2003
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OB-03-001.html
| Project |
PI Name |
Title |
| HD046144 |
BEHRMAN, JERE R |
Causal Effects of Schooling on Adult and Child Health |
| AG023397 |
BUKA, STEPHEN L |
Pathways Linking Education/Health in Middle Adulthood |
| AG023347 |
CRIMMINS, EILEEN M. |
Biological Risk Underlying Education Health Differences |
| HD046166 |
DESAI, SONALDE B. |
Parental Education and Child Outcomes |
| HD046103 |
ENSMINGER, MARGARET E. |
Value of Education-Paths to Well Being over Life Course |
| HD046123 |
HAIR, ELIZABETH C |
Parent education to child health: Longitudinal pathways |
| HD046113 |
KARTER, ANDREW JOHN |
Educational Disparities in Diabetes Complications |
| HD046162 |
PAXSON, CHRISTINA H |
The Relationship Between College Education & Health |
| AG023380 |
ROSS, CATHERINE E |
Education, Resource Substitution, and Health |
| CA105621 |
SCHAPIRA, MARILYN M |
Establishing a Link between Numeracy and Health |
| AG023363 |
SMITH, JAMES PATRICK |
Education , Self-Management and Adherence |
| AG023370 |
SOLDO, BETH J |
Comparative Approach to SES Gradient: Aging & Selection |
| HD046125 |
STEIN, ARYEH DAVID |
Education and Health Across the Life course in Guatemala |
- NIH Conference on Understanding and Reducing Disparities in Health, October 23-24, 2006, Bethesda, MD.
- Racial/Ethnic Bias and Health: Scientific Evidence, Methods, and Research Implications Conference, April, 2002. Papers from the conference were published in the American Journal of Public Health, February 2003, Vol. 93, Issue 2.
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