Health Services Research

In a new commentary in the journal Women’s Health Issues, a group of researchers notes that as many as one-third of U.S. and Canadian women suffer from chronic pain, and commonly prescribed opioid treatments come with substantial risks. National health agencies recommend physical activity as a nonpharmacologic pain management strategy, but health professionals don’t yet have enough information about the type and intensity of exercise to recommend for specific groups of patients, or how best to make physical activity accessible to those who could use it to manage chronic pain.

Childhood vaccines play a major role in minimizing the incidence of vaccine-preventable disease. While all states accommodate medical vaccine exemptions, certain states also allow for waivers on the basis of religious or philosophical objections. Certain vaccines have been particularly controversial, with public perceptions linking them to autism and developmental disorders, despite consensus to the contrary in the scientific and medical communities.  This has led some states to add exemptions in recent years, while other states opted to eliminate the exemptions.       

Secure, stable health center funding urgently needed to protect the public’s health, says new report

Gifts of any size had an effect on prescribing, and larger gifts elicited a larger impact, according to study findings.

When the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Women’s Health (OWH) funded community coalitions across the country to address gender-based health disparities, the communities identified and addressed a wide range of concerns, from inadequate walking and biking facilities in Billings, Montana to impacts of trauma in Baltimore.