Lerner Affiliates Scott Landes and Andrew London published an article titled Self-Reported ADHD and Adult Health in the United States. Their research was informed by a social determinants of health framework and they investigated the relationship between self-reported ADHD diagnosis status and adult health, and whether observed associations are attenuated by biomedical and socioeconomic factors. Their results show that ADHD diagnosis was significantly associated with higher odds of injury, physical health conditions, functional limitations, fair/poor health, and psychological distress in fully specified models (adjusted odds ratios [AORs] = 1.62-2.36).

On December 10, we published an issue brief by Scott Landes and colleagues titled Less Worthy Lives? We Must Prioritize People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in COVID-19 Vaccine Allocation. As a result, he was featured in this Washington Post article to speak on the issue. His research indicates that people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) are two to three times more likely to die from COVID19. He encourages government officials to increase their focus on those with IDD when prioritizing vaccine distribution and reporting outbreaks and mortality rates.

He says, “To me, it’s unconscionable. We know this is a vulnerable health population. We can show they’re not doing well. I just cannot fathom why states are being allowed to not report. If states had a greater focus on the pandemic’s impact on the disabled, vaccination prioritization would be much clearer. You would have the evidence to tell you what needs to be done.”

Ashley Van Slyke, undergraduate research assistant, wrote a brief titled Homelessness during COVID-19: Understanding and Preventing Risk of Virus Spread in this Vulnerable Population. Her brief was mentioned in this Business Insider article about the growing issue that women and cannot afford feminine care products.

US deaths in 2020 reached 3 million, which is the largest number of deaths the country has ever seen. While COVID19 has played a large part in the death toll, Lerner Chair Shannon Monnat also speaks to the increase in drug overdoses. She says, “I don’t suspect there are a bunch of new people who suddenly started using drugs because of COVID. If anything, I think the supply of people who are already using drugs is more contaminated.” Read the full article here.

Mariah Brennan has been awarded a Roscoe Martin grant from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University to support her research on female veteran wellbeing in the context of their military separation. The Roscoe Martin fund provides grants to graduate students for expenses related to their dissertation research. For her dissertation, Brennan proposes to examine relationships between health, employment, social supports, and community engagement during the early period of separation from the military. Brennan is a PhD student the Social Sciences program in the Maxwell School. She is also a Lerner Graduate Fellow in the Lerner Center for Public Health Promotion at SU.