Research Initiatives

BioPop: Integrative Biopsychosocial Research in Population Health considers health from a lifecourse perspective from which health outcomes are the product of multiple determinants. These determinants may influence health, but may also be influenced by health in a recursive or bi-directional pattern.

Social and Familial Relationships and Health

The health and mental health of individuals has been shown to influence, and be influenced by, the health and mental health of their family members. BioPop seeks to better understand the ways in which family members’ health is linked, and the biological mechanisms underlying the observed relationship between health within a family.

• Related Projects
• Interactions between Childhood Illness and the Family
• Stress in Mothers in the Newborn Lung Project Statewide Cohort Study

Stress, Resilience, and Health

Stress does not have a universally negative effect on health: evidence has linked some types of stress with worse health outcomes while others have been associated with better health. To further complicated things, certain groups of people seem better able to cope with stress, or more resilient in the face of stress, than others. BioPop research is investigating how the effects of stress “get under the skin” to influence health, and what factors are associated with resilience or poor health outcomes as a result of stress. BioPop research also seeks to better understand the ways which the effect of stress on health can be mediated or moderated.

• Related Projects
• Caregiver Strain and Cellular Aging: An Ancillary Study to the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin
• Stress and Cellular Aging among Parental Caregivers of Childhood Cancer
• Stress in Mothers in the Newborn Lung Project Statewide Cohort Study

Mental Health and Healthcare

Research has indicated that those with poor mental health may be more likely to utilize healthcare, perhaps inappropriately. BioPop research seeks to better understand the relationship between mental health and physical health outcomes (at the individual and population and familial level), and to understand how mental health affects health care utilization and expenditures.

• Related Projects
• The Impact of Antepartum Mental Health Problems on Long-Term Health and Economic Outcomes of Mothers and their Children
• Treatment of Maternal Depression and the Impact on Children’s Mental Health and Use of and Expenditures for Healthcare

Biological Mechanisms

There is strong evidence for the influence of both social and psychological determinants of health; however the physiological processes associated with these determinants are only beginning to be understood. BioPop research uses an integrative, systems approach, rather than individual measures of health and disease, to investigate these mechanisms of influence. BioPop research is also investigating methods of measuring biomarkers correlated with perceived health and mental health states.

• Related Projects
• Caregiver Strain and Cellular Aging: An Ancillary Study to the Survey of the Health of Wisconsin
• Stress and Cellular Aging among Parental Caregivers of Childhood Cancer

Recent Presentations/Poster Abstracts

The Effect of Childhood Activity Limitations on Child Health, Mental Health, and School Attendance
Whitney P. Witt, PhD, MPH, Aimee Teo Broman, MA, Carissa Gottlieb Department of Population Health Sciences and Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Wisconsin, Madison

Background/Objective: Childhood activity limitation is a general measure of the impact of child illness and disability, and assesses restrictions in participation in age-appropriate activities, such as attending school. This study sought to determine if and to what extent changes in childhood activity limitations resulted in subsequent adverse health, mental health, and school attendance outcomes among children 5-17 years of age.

Methods: Data on 15,439 children from ten panels (1996-2005) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) were pooled and analyzed. Childhood limitation status was examined by sociodemographic characteristics and subsequent health and mental health status, and school days missed. Multivariate regression analyses were used to model the relationship between children’s activity limitation and children’s health, mental health and school days missed while controlling for potential confounders.

Results: 9.5% of school-aged children had an acute, newly reported, or chronic activity limitation. Descriptive analyses revealed, and multivariate analyses confirmed, that children with activity limitations were more likely to experience subsequent adverse health, mental health, and school attendance outcomes. Children with chronic limitations had the highest increased odds of being in poor health and mental health (OR = 9.2 and 9.4, respectively). Those with acute and newly reported limitations were over three times more likely to be in poor health and mental health. Children with a newly reported activity limitations were the most likely to miss school.

Conclusions: Children with acute, newly reported, or chronic activity limitations all were more likely to have adverse health, mental health, and school attendance outcomes when compared with those without limitations. Chronic activity limitations have the greatest impact on children’s subsequent health and mental health status. However, even acute and newly reported activity limitations have a lasting impact on health, mental health, and school attendance.