Faculty & Research Published Research Research Economics Education Social Equity Social Psychology (-) Health Policy Facet Area of Focus - Research Adam Leive Richard Bonnie Craig Volden John Pepper Sebastian Tello-Trillo William Shobe (-) Christopher J. Ruhm Facet People - Research Facet UVA Partner - Research Published Research Health Policy Social Psychology Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Ronald C. Kessler, Victor Puac-Polanco How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. Learn more Working Paper Health Policy The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review Of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Johanna Catherine Maclean, Justine Mallatt, Kosali I. Simon This study reviews quasi-experimental studies that examine the relationship between opioids and health and healthcare, and crime outcomes in the U.S. Learn more Published Research Health Policy Social Equity Has Mortality Risen Disproportionately for the Least Educated? Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Adam Leive Two Batten professors examine whether the least educated population groups experienced the worst mortality trends at the beginning of the 21st century by measuring changes in mortality across education quartiles. Learn more Published Research Health Policy Geographic Variation in Opioid and Heroin Involved Drug Poisoning Mortality Rates Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm An important barrier to formulating effective policies to address the rapid rise in U.S. fatal overdoses is that the specific drugs involved are frequently not identified on death certificates. This analysis supplies improved estimates of state opioid and heroin involved drug fatality rates in 2014, and changes from 2008 to 2014. Learn more Published Research Health Policy Nurses’ Presenteeism and Its Effects on Self-Reported Quality of Care and Costs Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Susan A. Letvak, Sat N. Gupta Although research has been conducted on how nurse staffing levels affect outcomes, there has been little investigation into how the health-related productivity of nurses is related to quality of care. Two major causes of worker presenteeism (reduced on-the-job productivity as a result of health problems) are musculoskeletal pain and mental health issues, particularly depression. Learn more Published Research Health Policy Rising educational gradients in mortality: The role of behavioral risk factors Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, David M. Cutler, Fabian Lange, Ellen Meara, Seth Richards-Shubik The long-standing inverse relationship between education and mortality strengthened substantially at the end of the 20th century. This paper examines the reasons for this increase. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Social Psychology Estimated Prevalence of and Factors Associated With Clinically Significant Anxiety and Depression Among US Adults During the First Year of the COVID-19 Pandemic Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Ronald C. Kessler, Victor Puac-Polanco How much did clinically significant anxiety and depression increase among US adults during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic? In this survey study of more than 1.4 million respondents in the US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey, responses to a screening question calibrated to a 4-item Patient Health Questionnaire score of 6 or greater suggested that aggregate prevalence of clinically significant anxiety and depression increased only modestly overall among US adults in 2020 compared with 2017 to 2019. Learn more
Working Paper Health Policy The Opioid Crisis, Health, Healthcare, and Crime: A Review Of Quasi-Experimental Economic Studies Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Johanna Catherine Maclean, Justine Mallatt, Kosali I. Simon This study reviews quasi-experimental studies that examine the relationship between opioids and health and healthcare, and crime outcomes in the U.S. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Social Equity Has Mortality Risen Disproportionately for the Least Educated? Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Adam Leive Two Batten professors examine whether the least educated population groups experienced the worst mortality trends at the beginning of the 21st century by measuring changes in mortality across education quartiles. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Geographic Variation in Opioid and Heroin Involved Drug Poisoning Mortality Rates Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm An important barrier to formulating effective policies to address the rapid rise in U.S. fatal overdoses is that the specific drugs involved are frequently not identified on death certificates. This analysis supplies improved estimates of state opioid and heroin involved drug fatality rates in 2014, and changes from 2008 to 2014. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Nurses’ Presenteeism and Its Effects on Self-Reported Quality of Care and Costs Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, Susan A. Letvak, Sat N. Gupta Although research has been conducted on how nurse staffing levels affect outcomes, there has been little investigation into how the health-related productivity of nurses is related to quality of care. Two major causes of worker presenteeism (reduced on-the-job productivity as a result of health problems) are musculoskeletal pain and mental health issues, particularly depression. Learn more
Published Research Health Policy Rising educational gradients in mortality: The role of behavioral risk factors Authors: Christopher J. Ruhm, David M. Cutler, Fabian Lange, Ellen Meara, Seth Richards-Shubik The long-standing inverse relationship between education and mortality strengthened substantially at the end of the 20th century. This paper examines the reasons for this increase. Learn more