Projecting the economic burden of health impacts of aircraft noise: a case study of Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

Background: While the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the United States optimizes flight patterns, it has led to the unintended consequence of increasing aircraft noise exposure in some communities near airports. Despite the evidence that chronic exposure to high noise levels produces detrimental health effects, potential adverse health consequences due to increased noise in the affected communities have not been adequately considered in aviation policy discussions.

Objective: We assessed the long-term health and associated economic burden of increased aircraft noise caused by NextGen near the Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International (BWI) airport in Maryland.

The cost-effectiveness of standalone HEPA filtration units for the prevention of airborne SARS CoV-2 transmission.

Objective: Airborne infection from aerosolized SARS-CoV-2 poses an economic challenge for businesses without existing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The Environmental Protection Agency notes that standalone units may be used in areas without existing HVAC systems, but the cost and effectiveness of standalone units has not been evaluated.

Study Design: Cost-effectiveness analysis with Monte Carlo simulation and aerosol transmission modeling.

Impact of aeroplane noise on mental and physical health: a quasi-experimental analysis.

Objectives: Historically, departures at New York City's LaGuardia airport flew over a large sports complex within a park. During the US Open tennis games, flights were diverted to fly over a heavily populated foreign-born neighbourhood for roughly 2 weeks out of the year so that the tennis match was not disturbed (the 'TNNIS' departure). In 2012, the use of the TNNIS departure became year-round to better optimise flight patterns around the metropolitan area.

The cost-effectiveness of common strategies for the prevention of transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in universities.

Background: Most universities that re-open in the United States (US) for in-person instruction have implemented the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) guidelines. The value of additional interventions to prevent the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is unclear. We calculated the cost-effectiveness and cases averted of each intervention in combination with implementing the CDC guidelines.

Effect of Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to Americans Without Dependent Children on Psychological Distress.

Antipoverty policies have the potential to improve mental health. We conducted a randomized trial (Paycheck Plus Health Study Randomized Controlled Trial, New York, New York) to investigate whether a 4-fold increase in the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-income Americans without dependent children would reduce psychological distress relative to the current federal credit. Between 2013 and 2014, a total of 5,968 participants were recruited; 2,997 were randomly assigned to the treatment group and 2,971 were assigned to the control group.

Should the Government Be Allowed to Take Control over Your Car as Part of a Disaster Management Plan?

Introduction: With the Safety Ensuring Lives Future Deployment and Research in Vehicle Evolution (SELF DRIVE) Act in the United States, there is a growing interest in autonomous vehicles (AVs). One avenue of innovation would be to use them to mobilize and coordinate response efforts during natural disasters. This study uses an earthquake response in an urban, developed setting as a hypothetical example case study.

Differences between blacks and whites in well-being, beliefs, emotional states, behaviors and survival, 1978-2014.

Objectives: Material well-being, beliefs, and emotional states are believed to influence one's health and longevity. In this paper, we explore racial differences in self-rated health, happiness, trust in others, feeling that society is fair, believing in God, frequency of sexual intercourse, educational attainment, and percent in poverty and their association with mortality.

Study Designs: Age-period-cohort (APC) study.

Generational differences in longitudinal blood pressure trajectories by geographic region during socioeconomic transitions in China.

Objectives: To examine generational differences in longitudinal blood pressure trajectories by region following socioeconomic transitions, which is important for establishing the population risk of cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).

Methods: With data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey (1991-2011), we used multilevel growth-curve models to estimate systolic/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) levels at the mean age and rates of change by cohort (born between 1931 and 1980), region, and sex.

Results: Younger cohorts generally had higher SBP/DBP levels at 44.

The cost-effectiveness analysis of the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme in China.

Objective: The New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) is a universal healthcare coverage plan now covering over 98% of rural residents in China, first implemented in 2003. Rising costs in the face of modest gains in health and financial protections have raised questions about the cost-effectiveness of the NCMS.

Methods: Using the most recent estimates of the NCMS's health and economic consequences from a comprehensive review of the literature, we conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis using a Markov model for a hypothetical cohort between ages 20 and 100.

America's Declining Well-Being, Health, and Life Expectancy: Not Just a White Problem.

Although recent declines in life expectancy among non-Hispanic Whites, coined "deaths of despair," grabbed the headlines of most major media outlets, this is neither a recent problem nor is it confined to Whites. The decline in America's health has been described in the public health literature for decades and has long been hypothesized to be attributable to an array of worsening psychosocial problems that are not specific to Whites. To test some of the dominant hypotheses, we show how various measures of despair have been increasing in the United States since 1980 and how these trends relate to changes in health and longevity.

The Trade-Off between Optimizing Flight Patterns and Human Health: A Case Study of Aircraft Noise in Queens, NY, USA.

Airports in the U.S. have gradually been transitioning to automated flight systems.

Autonomous vehicles are cost-effective when used as taxis.

Background: Autonomous vehicles (AVs) will radically re-shape the health and well-being of people in the United States in good ways and bad. We set out to estimate a reasonable time-to-adoption using cost-effectivenessmodels to estimate the point at which AVs become reasonably safe and affordable for widespread adoption.

Methods: We used Waymo data (previously, Google Self-Driving Car Project) and a microsimulation model to explore projected costs and safety issues today and five years from today to get a sense of the speed of consumer adoption were AVs brought to the market.

Undiagnosed depression: A community diagnosis.

Many large provider networks are investing heavily in preventing disease within the communities that they serve. We explore the potential benefits and challenges associated with tackling depression at the community level using a unique dataset designed for one such provider network. The economic costs of having depression (increased medical care use, lower quality of life, and decreased workplace productivity) are among the highest of any disease.

Cost-Effectiveness of Capping Freeways for Use as Parks: The New York Cross-Bronx Expressway Case Study.

Objectives: To examine health benefits and cost-effectiveness of implementing a freeway deck park to increase urban green space.

Methods: Using the Cross-Bronx Expressway in New York City as a case study, we explored the cost-effectiveness of implementing deck parks. We built a microsimulation model that included increased exercise, fewer accidents, and less pollution as well as the cost of implementation and maintenance of the park.

The Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Nurse-Family Partnership in the United States.

We evaluated whether Nurse-Family Partnership might serve as a cost-effective social policy for improving health. Using data from studies of randomized controlled trials as well as real-world data, we conducted a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate cost-effectiveness of Nurse-Family Partnership in a hypothetical cohort of first-born children in the United States. Analyses were conducted in 2015.

Cost-effectiveness of neighbourhood slow zones in New York City.

Background: Neighbourhood slow zones (NSZs) are areas that attempt to slow traffic via speed limits coupled with other measures (eg, speed humps). They appear to reduce traffic crashes and encourage active transportation. We evaluate the cost-effectiveness of NSZs in New York City (NYC), which implemented them in 2011.

The impact of urban speed reduction programmes on health system cost and utilities.

Background: Vehicle speed changes impact the probability of injuring a pedestrian in ways that differ from the way that it impacts the probability of a collision or of death. Therefore, return on investment in speed reduction programmes has complex and unpredictable manifests. The objective of this study is to analyse the impact of motor vehicle speed reduction on the collision-related morbidity and mortality rates of urban pedestrians.

An Ounce of Prevention: Deaths Averted From Primary Prevention Interventions.

Introduction: The U.S. lags in the nationwide implementation of primary prevention interventions that have been shown to be efficacious.

Cost Effectiveness of the Earned Income Tax Credit as a Health Policy Investment.

Introduction: Lower-income Americans are suffering from declines in income, health, and longevity over time. Income and employment policies have been proposed as a potential non-medical solution to this problem.

Methods: An interrupted time series analysis of state-level incremental supplements to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) program was performed using data from 1993 to 2010 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System surveys and state-level life expectancy.

The cost-effectiveness of bike lanes in New York City.

Background: Our objective is to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of investments in bike lanes using New York City's (NYC) fiscal year 2015 investment as a case study. We also provide a generalizable model, so that localities can estimate their return on bike lane investments.

Methods And Findings: We evaluate the cost-effectiveness of bike lane construction using a two-stage model.

Cumulative social risk and type 2 diabetes in US adults: The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006.

Background: The cumulative effects of adverse social factors on the diabetes risk remains to be clarified.

Design: Cross-sectional analysis of the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2006.

Methods: We included 10,276 adults aged ≥20 years.

How Automation Can Help Alleviate the Budget Crunch in Public Health Research.

In an era of severe funding constraints for public health research, more efficient means of conducting research will be needed if scientific progress is to continue. At present major funders, such as the National Institutes of Health, do not provide specific instructions to grant authors or to reviewers regarding the cost efficiency of the research that they conduct. Doing so could potentially allow more research to be funded within current budgetary constraints and reduce waste.