Recent Posts

New Report Calls Attention to Excess Deaths in COVID-19 Pandemic

New research from the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University finds that the number of publicly-reported deaths from COVID-19 may be underestimating the pandemic’s actual death toll.  The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that approximately 87,000 more Americans died between March 1, 2020, and April 25,…

Read More

Working-age Americans dying at higher rates, especially in economically hard-hit states

Working-age Americans dying at higher rates, especially in economically hard-hit states A new Center study identifies “a distinctly American phenomenon” as mortality among 25 to 64 year-olds increases and U.S. life expectancy continues to fall. Mortality rates among working-age Americans continue to climb, causing a decrease in U.S. life expectancy that is severely impacting certain…

Read More

Report Reveals Wide Differences in Health Opportunities Among Metropolitan Washington Neighborhoods

Recent research from the VCU Center on Society and Health found that life expectancy across the metropolitan Washington region varies by as much as 27 years and health can differ drastically within a single county, from neighborhood to neighborhood. The report – Uneven Opportunities: How Conditions for Wellness Vary Across the Metropolitan Washington Region – was commissioned by…

Read More

Recent Center report shows local organizations require more flexible funding and a focus on capacity building in order to advance equity and improve health

Changes to funding streams, infrastructure, and increased resources are recommended to improve Richmond-area community health and wellbeing, according to the latest collaboration between the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center on Society and Health (CSH), Engaging Richmond, and the VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA). The researchers recently published a report, “Regional Scan and…

Read More

Death rates are rising in Virginia’s white population: New VCU report examines troubling trends

“The opioid crisis is the tip of the iceberg,” states a new report from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health, which includes alarming information about rising death rates in Virginia. Stress-related conditions, including not only unintentional drug overdoses, but also suicides, alcoholic liver disease, and alcohol poisonings, are killing white Virginians aged 25-to-54…

Read More

Spotlight reports show large differences in prevalence of chronic diseases across states

In a pair of reports released this week, the Center on Society and Health and the Urban Institute provide detailed information on how states differ on measures of chronic diseases, and how those outcomes are connected to dozens of potential drivers of health. For example, the rates of diabetes in 2010 ranged 2.5 fold across the…

Read More

New Report Takes Deep-Dive Into Causes of Death Fueling Rises in Mortality in California

According to a study released by the Center on Society and Health, in partnership with the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh,  “deaths of despair”—those related to drugs and alcohol and other causes of death linked to stress—are skyrocketing in rural Northern California and the Central San Joaquin Valley among whites….

Read More

Northern Virginia’s Uneven Opportunity Landscape

When it comes to providing opportunities for social and economic mobility, Northern Virginia is a region of stark contrasts, with communities of great affluence virtually adjacent to highly disadvantaged neighborhoods where residents struggle to get ahead. A new report by the Center on Society and Health, commissioned by the Northern Virginia Health Foundation (NVHF), found…

Read More

Rates of homicide and drug overdoses differ more than seven-fold across the United States, according to new report

In a pair of reports released this week, the Center on Society and Health and the Urban Institute provide detailed information on how the prevalence of certain injuries and sexually transmitted infections differ by state, and how those outcomes are connected to dozens of potential drivers of health. For example, the number of homicide-related deaths…

Read More

Infant mortality rates differ more than two-fold across the United States, according to new report

In a pair of reports released this week, the Center on Society and Health and the Urban Institute provide detailed information on how states differ on measures of birth, child, and adolescent health outcomes, and how those outcomes are connected to dozens of potential drivers of health. For example, rates of infant mortality (per 1,000…

Read More