mailman school of public health
Model for managing asthma in preschoolers leads to dramatic drop in ER visits and hospitalizations
February 25, 2011 — Nearly one in eleven (8.6%) preschool children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with asthma and in some inner city neighborhoods, the figure is closer to one in seven. But, few asthma management programs are designed for parents o…
Common insecticide used in homes associated with delayed mental development of young children
February 9, 2011 — When the EPA phased out the widespread residential use of chlorpyrifos and other organophosphorus (OP) insecticides in 2000-2001 because of risks to child neurodevelopment, these compounds were largely replaced with pyrethroid in…
Enhanced early childhood education pays long-term dividends in better health
January 14, 2011 — Intensive early education programs for low-income children have been shown to yield numerous educational benefits, but few studies have looked more broadly at their impact on health and health behaviors. A new study conducted by …
More than 3,000 survivors of the WTC attacks experience long-term post-traumatic stress disorder
January 6, 2010 — Nearly 10 years after the greatest human-made disaster in U.S. history– the destruction of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers — there has been little research documenting the attacks’ consequences among those most directly affe…
Stigma deters those with alcohol disorders from seeking treatment
November 30, 2010 — Despite the existence of effective programs for treating alcohol dependencies and disorders, less than a quarter of people who are diagnosed actually seek treatment. In a recent study by Columbia University’s Mailman School of P…
‘Legacy of Katrina’ report details impact of stalled recovery on mental health status of children
Five years ago Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans caused the evacuation of 1.5 million Gulf Coast residents. After a year, 500,000 people remained displaced, many residing in highly transitional shelters, including the notorious FEMA t…
Generalized anxiety disorder, peptic ulcers linked
A new finding of a link between an anxiety disorder and peptic ulcer disease lends support to the view that this gastrointestinal disease and anxiety disorder may share a common link. In recent years, attention has focused on a more biological element with the identification of bacteria as a cause of peptic ulcers. “The identification of Helicobacter pylori as an infectious cause of peptic ulcer disease has been considered by many to disprove the possibility that there is an important relationship between anxiety disorders and gastrointestinal disease,” says study author Renee D. Goodwin, Ph.D., from the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City. “Over the last several years research on the causes and treatments for peptic ulcer disease has neglected the links with psychiatric/psychological factors,” she notes.