Demography | Penn Today

Person sitting on a couch feeding a baby with a bottle.

Partnered, but still poor

Regina Baker, an assistant professor of sociology, challenges literature that touts marriage as a cure for poverty.

Hand holding scissors cutting a bunch of cigarettes in another hand held over a trash bin.

Emphasizing short-term effects can help prevent and reduce youth smoking

A recent study by Annenberg researchers finds that anti-tobacco campaigns focused on tangible, short-term consequences are a promising way to prevent young people from smoking and encouraging them to quit.

computer generated image of a house in a bubble.

Five things to know about rising house prices

Wharton real estate and finance professor Benjamin Keys talks about why the red-hot U.S. real estate market isn’t a bubble that’s ready to burst.

Common gene variants linked to sepsis and COVID-19 severity in African Americans

Two genetic risk variants that are carried by nearly 40% of Black individuals may exacerbate the severity of both sepsis and COVID-19. A Penn Medicine study identifies two potential pathways to reduce the health disparities driven by these gene mutations.

Four nurses in gowns and masks standing smiling in a row.

Ethnic and racial diversity in surgical faculty associated with medical student diversity

A new study confirms there is little progress made in the last decade to expand racial and ethnic diversity in surgical faculty, despite evidence that more diverse faculty leads to greater racial, ethnic, and gender diversity in the medical student population.

Al Día

What does the 2020 U.S. Census say about Latinos?

Michael Jones-Correa of the School of Arts & Sciences gave a presentation at the 2021 Greater Philadelphia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce State of Hispanic Business Forum about the most recent U.S. Census. “Pennsylvania has always been a bit of a laggard when it comes to its foreign-born population, its Latino population,” he said. “But it’s now sort of beginning to match the kind of rates of population and growth around the country.”

Visual representation of a DNA sequence.

Moving past conflation of race and genetics

Race is not genetic. Race is a social and political construct. However, the conflation of race and genetics is one way that racism persists in medicine and research.

Empty hospital bed and wheelchair in a health care facility with curtains drawn.

Yelp star ratings may reveal county-level death rate disparities

A one-star disparity on health care facility Yelp reviews could indicate a 60-death-per-year difference between some United States counties where those facilities are located.

Hand of an African American person on a hospital bed with a hospital bracelet and an IV drip.

Racial disparities in avoidable hospitalizations for Medicare beneficiaries

A new Medical Care study by LDI Fellow Norma Coe and colleagues reveals racial disparities in avoidable hospitalizations that are even greater than in traditional Medicare.

Person in hospital bed leaning forward while a doctor checks their back with a stethoscope.

Geographic disparities in lower extremity amputation rates

A new study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association shows that peripheral artery disease affects Black people and those of low socioeconomic status, and the U.S. health system is missing opportunities to slow or stop the progression.

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