Public Health
March 13, 2024
Q&A: UW expert on the rising rates of immunosuppression among U.S. adults
A new UW study places the prevalence of immunosuppression at around 6.6% of American adults — more than twice as high as previously understood. That rise could have broad implications for how we navigate the late stages of COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics.
February 28, 2024
Vision Zero road safety projects in Seattle are unlikely to have negative impacts on local business sales, UW study finds
An analysis of seven safety projects across Seattle found they had no negative impact on the annual revenues of nearby businesses for three years after construction began.
January 22, 2024
Q&A: UW expert on the rise and risks of artificial sweeteners
The rise of artificial sweeteners has made it easier for conscious consumers to reduce their sugar intake, but these products may present their own health risks.
January 16, 2024
UW research helps California forest managers assess smoke hazards from prescribed burns
An international team led by researchers at the University of Washington built a framework to help land managers assess the air quality implications of land management scenarios with different levels of prescribed burning.
November 28, 2023
UW research finds that mailing HPV test kits directly to patients increases cervical cancer screening rates
Currently, more than half of all cervical cancers diagnosed in the United States are in people who are overdue for screening or have never been screened. In a new study, researchers report that mailing HPV test kits significantly increased cervical cancer screening rates.
November 27, 2023
Breathing highway air increases blood pressure, UW research finds
A new study from the UW found that unfiltered air from rush-hour traffic significantly increased passengers’ blood pressure, both while in the car and up to 24 hours later.
October 23, 2023
Video: Familiar ingredients make Afghan Food Guide easy to swallow
Unfamiliar foods can get in the way of following a recommended diet. For the Afghan community seeking health care in the U.S., a nutrition handbook created by UW School of Public Health graduate student Priyasha Maharjan works to solve this problem, using Afghan food examples to educate patients and care providers on the nutritional content of their meals.
October 17, 2023
CDC funds UW to take first steps toward regional public health emergency preparedness center
The UW will convene partners across Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Oregon to develop a workplan to establish a future regional Center for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.
October 9, 2023
Three UW faculty members elected to National Academy of Medicine
Among the most prestigious scientific organizations in the country, the Academy recognizes excellence in the fields of health and medicine, along with a commitment to volunteer service.
September 7, 2023
UW assessment finds fentanyl and methamphetamine smoke linger on public transit vehicles
Two years ago, as life regained its rhythm and public transit once again filled with people, train and bus operators spotted a troubling trend. Some operators reported instances of people smoking drugs on their vehicles, and worried that the haze it created could linger, potentially affecting workers’ physical and mental health. Spurred by operators’ concerns,…
September 5, 2023
UW, Stanford launch resource to help health care professionals respond to climate concerns
The case studies in Medicine for a Changing Planet, collated from clinical encounters around the world, support health professionals in recognizing and treating a variety of health-related conditions that can be traced to environmental stressors.
August 28, 2023
UW research links wildfire smoke to increased risk of emergency room visits for people of all ages
Taken together, the two papers’ findings suggest that wildfire smoke poses a risk to people of all ages, not just young children and older adults.
July 18, 2023
Q&A: UW pharmacy professor Donald Downing on the over-the-counter birth control pill
On July 13, the Food and Drug Administration approved for the first time an over-the-counter birth control pill, expected to hit shelves in early 2024. The approval of the oral contraceptive Opill could drastically expand access to birth control, which for decades has been available only through a prescription. It’s a rare victory for reproductive…
July 5, 2023
Research led by UW undergrad shows ultrafine air pollution reflects Seattle’s redlining history
The most comprehensive study yet of long-term ultrafine particle exposure found that concentrations of this tiny pollutant reflect the city’s decades-old racial and economic divides.
June 26, 2023
New report, tool suggest how Washington can better protect against extreme heat
Two years after the Pacific Northwest heat dome — the deadliest weather-related disaster in state history — a collaborative effort has drawn up recommendations for how people and groups across the state could prevent future heat-related illness and save lives. The effort involves a report led by the UW Climate Impacts Group and an interactive risk-mapping tool led by the UW Center for Health and the Global Environment,
June 21, 2023
An app can transform smartphones into thermometers that accurately detect fevers
A team led by researchers at the University of Washington has created an app called FeverPhone, which transforms smartphones into thermometers without adding new hardware.
May 1, 2023
Prolonged power outages, often caused by weather events, hit some parts of the U.S. harder than others
New research found that Americans already bearing the brunt of climate change and health inequities are most at risk of impact by a lengthy power outage.
April 6, 2023
Washington state’s 2021 heat wave contributed to 159 excess injury deaths over three weeks
A record-breaking heat wave that baked Washington state in 2021 contributed to 159 excess injury deaths, according to research led by a UW professor.
Community-based prevention system linked to reduced handgun carrying among youth growing up in rural areas
A community-based, evidence-based intervention system developed at the University of Washington has been linked to reduced handgun carrying rates among youth growing up in rural areas.
April 5, 2023
UW’s Phil Levin to direct first-ever US National Nature Assessment
Phil Levin, professor of practice in environmental and forest sciences at the University of Washington and lead scientist at The Nature Conservancy in Washington, has been appointed to direct the first-ever U.S. National Nature Assessment. The 3-year assessment will take an interdisciplinary approach to better understand the role of nature in the lives of people across the country, and how those benefits might be altered under climate change.
November 16, 2022
More US adults carrying loaded handguns daily, study finds
New research led by the University of Washington finds that the number of U.S. adult handgun owners carrying a loaded handgun on their person doubled from 2015 to 2019, and that a larger proportion of handgun owners carried handguns in states with less restrictive carrying regulations.
November 2, 2022
Infants less likely to contract COVID, develop severe symptoms than household caregivers
In one of the first studies to explore how COVID-19 specifically affects older infants, researchers from the University of Washington and at institutions at four other locations in the Western and Southern U.S. found that the number of infected people in a household was the factor most closely linked with the infant’s likelihood of being infected.
September 26, 2022
Heat-related mortality risk is widespread across Washington state, study shows
Heat-related deaths occur across Washington state, even in regions with typically milder climates. This is the most extensive study yet of heat-related mortality in Washington state, and the first to look beyond the major population to and include rural areas. Researchers used statistical methods to uncover “hidden” deaths that may have listed something else, like illness or a chronic disease, as the primary cause.
UW joins industry-academia alliance to accelerate research in neuroscience
The University of Washington has joined the Alliance for Therapies in Neuroscience (ATN), a long-term research partnership between academia and industry geared to transform the fight against brain diseases and disorders of the central nervous system. Launched in 2021 by the University of California, San Francisco, UC Berkeley, Genentech — a member of the Roche group — and Roche Holding AG, the ATN seeks to accelerate the development of new therapies for a broad range of brain and central nervous system conditions.
September 22, 2022
UW systems experts put health of kids at the center as King County seeks to reach ‘zero youth detention’
As King County seeks to reach its goal of “zero youth detention” — ultimately eliminating the practice of juvenile detention in the county —University of Washington researchers are working to help address major systemic challenges in how young people engage with health care. With a strategic plan to close the juvenile detention center by…
September 9, 2022
Pandemic federal programs helped kids in need get access to 1.5 billion meals every month
When schools closed during the first year of the pandemic, an immediate and potentially devastating problem surfaced: How would millions of children in struggling families get the school meals many of them depended on? The U.S. Congress responded by authorizing the Department of Agriculture to roll out two major programs. It launched the “grab…
August 2, 2022
Popular map for exploring environmental health disparities, vulnerabilities in Washington gets an update
Since it first launched in 2019, Washington state’s Environmental Health Disparities Map has been used to help decisionmakers and government agencies engage with overburdened communities to clean up contamination, improve buildings and electric grids, plant trees and many other projects. Using a complex matrix of data, this open-access, interactive map ranks Washington’s nearly 1,500 U.S….
July 19, 2022
Suicide prevention training for health care providers a first step in longer-term efficacy
After Washington became the first state to require suicide prevention training for health care providers, the University of Washington worked with experts and organizations to develop the All Patients Safe program. A new study shows how All Patients Safe helped providers of all specialties learn how to identify and respond to patients at risk of suicide.
July 12, 2022
UW study strengthens evidence of link between air pollution and child brain development
Air pollution is not just a problem for lungs. Increasingly, research suggests air pollution can influence childhood behavioral problems and even IQ. A new study led by the University of Washington has added evidence showing that both prenatal and postnatal exposure to air pollution can harm kids. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, found…
July 8, 2022
Sweetened beverage taxes produce net economic benefits for lower-income communities
New research led by University of Washington professors James Krieger and Melissa Knox found that sweetened beverage taxes redistributed dollars from higher- to lower-income households.
May 27, 2022
Critical race theory at center of UW study of unequal access to treatment for opioid addiction
Opioid use disorder is an addiction crisis in the United States that has become increasingly lethal during the COVID-19 pandemic. To preserve access to life-saving treatment during the pandemic, federal drug agencies loosened requirements on physicians for treating these patients, including moving patient evaluations away from in-person exams to telemedicine. This federal policy change focused…
May 26, 2022
Video: Alexes Harris draws attention to low representation of people of color in bone marrow registry
In 2016, Alexes Harris was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer. But a search for a bone marrow donor turned up only five matches, and none ended up being a donor. People of color are underrepresented in the bone marrow registry; according to Be The Match, the nation’s largest bone marrow registry, white people have a 79% chance of finding a match. But a Black person’s potential match is only 29%, and Asian and Latinx people both have about a 47% chance. People of Native American ancestry have a 60% chance of finding a match.
May 24, 2022
Video: Experts collaborate to troubleshoot necessary fires and harmful smoke
Forest fire smoke can make you sick, and we’re experiencing more them. In terms of public health, it seems logical to reduce forest fires to limit unhealthy air pollution, but forest managers are increasingly seeing prescribed burning as an essential tool to reduce explosive wildfires. How should we plan to deal with the impacts of these fires?
May 19, 2022
Q&A: Why discriminatory bias is a public health problem
Tony Greenwald, emeritus professor of psychology at the University of Washington and creator of the Implicit Association Test, explains how public health strategies can help address unintended discrimination.
May 7, 2022
Consensus approach proposed to protect human health from intentional and wild forest fires
All forest fire smoke is bad for people, but not all fires in forests are bad. This is the conundrum faced by experts in forest management and public health: Climate change and decades of fire suppression that have increased fuels are contributing to larger and more intense wildfires and, in order to improve forest health…
May 6, 2022
Model finds COVID-19 deaths among elderly may be due to genetic limit on cell division
Your immune system’s ability to combat COVID-19, like any infection, largely depends on its ability to replicate the immune cells effective at destroying the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease. These cloned immune cells cannot be infinitely created, and a key hypothesis of a new University of Washington study is that the body’s ability to…
May 3, 2022
UW nursing, midwife experts address abortion issue in light of leaked SCOTUS opinion
Two University of Washington nursing and midwife experts in maternal health have provided the following quotes on the issue of restricting abortion or making it illegal — seen as increasingly likely due to the Supreme Court draft opinion, leaked to Politico on Monday. Molly Altman is an assistant professor in the UW School of Nursing…
Many pathologists agree overdiagnosis of skin cancer happens, but don’t change diagnosis behavior
As the most serious type of skin cancer, a melanoma diagnosis carries emotional, financial and medical consequences. That’s why recent studies finding that there is an overdiagnosis of melanoma are a significant cause for concern. “Overdiagnosis is the diagnosis of disease that will not harm a person in their lifetime. If melanoma is being overdiagnosed,…
April 4, 2022
Researchers find patterns of handgun carrying among youth in rural areas, building foundation for injury prevention
The first results of research led by the University of Washington into handgun carrying by young people growing up in rural areas has found six distinct patterns for when and how often these individuals carry a handgun. The patterns, or “longitudinal trajectories,” suggest that youths in rural areas differ in some ways from their urban…
March 30, 2022
Video: New face mask guidance for UW’s 2022 spring quarter
With the start of spring quarter on March 28, face masks became optional — but still recommended — inside most UW facilities. In light of the policy change, UW News spoke with several experts about what to expect on campus, how the current science and transmission rates inform our policy, and emotions and feelings we may experience as a result of removing our face coverings.
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