Nadereh Pourat, Gina Nicholson

This policy brief examines the number of children in California who miss school due to lack of affordable dental care.

Specifically, ...

Steven P. Wallace, Paula Leite, Xóchitl Castañeda, Marc Schenker

This report highlights the challenges faced by the 6.3 million children whose parents migrated to the U.S.

Shana Alex Lavarreda, E. Richard Brown

This fact sheet looks at the likely implications of national health care reform efforts on health insurance coverage in California.

Virginia A. Stallings, Carol West Suitor, Christine L. Taylor, Gail G. Harrison

This report, co-authored by Center Senior Research Scientist Gail Harrison, recommends a new set of nutrient targets and standards for menu planning for the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program.

The ...

Susan H. Babey, Malia Jones, Hongjian Yu, Harold Goldstein

This study reports geographic variations in consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among children, adolescents, and adults and examines the correlation between soda consumption and obesity.

Theresa A. Hastert, Susan H. Babey

Using data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, the authors examine the association between dietary behaviors and the number of days that adolescents bring lunch to school.

E. Richard Brown, Richard Kronick, Ninez A. Ponce, Jennifer R. Kincheloe, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Erin Peckham

This comprehensive, biennial report provides an overview of insurance trends throughout the state and looks specifically at coverage of California's working adults, elderly as well as children's coverage.

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

This report examines a range of indicators, from education to housing, to neighborhood safety, to food access, to criminal justice as well as health insurance, among other topics to explore how health inequities can be eliminated in communities of color.

Elizabeth Ozer, Elaine Zahnd, Sally Adams, Sheila Husting, Charles J. Wibbelsman, Kim P. Norman, Susan M. Smiga

This study evaluates how often primary care providers screen adolescent patients for emotional distress.

Alexander N. Ortega, Sarah M. Horwitz, Hai Fang, Alice A. Kuo, Steven P. Wallace, Moira Inkelas

Using data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, the authors examine parental concerns about development, learning and behavior for young children of Mexican origin and identify whether these reports differ by families' citizenship/documentation status.

Shana Alex Lavarreda, E. Richard Brown

The authors examined how children ages 0-18 who enrolled into or disenrolled from California's Medicaid program (called Medi-Cal,"MC") and State Children's Health Insurance Program (called Healthy Families, "HF") are affected in their access to physician services.

Janet Cummings, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Thomas Rice, E. Richard Brown

Many studies have documented the adverse consequences of uninsurance for children, but less is known about the differential effects of varying periods of uninsurance.

Allison L. Diamant, Susan H. Babey, Malia Jones, E. Richard Brown

Every day, over two million California adolescents (62%) drink soda and 1.4 million (43%) eat fast food, but only 38% eat five or more servings of fruits and vegetables.

This ...

David Grant, Nicole Kravitz-Wirtz, Nancy Breen, Jasmin A. Tiro, Jennifer Tsui

This policy brief looks at awareness and utilization of the Human Papillomavirus vaccine among girls age 13 years and older as well as among young women.

Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, Winnie Huang, E. Richard Brown

Active commuting (non-motorized transport) to school can be an important source of physical activity for children and adolescents.

Lingqi Tang, Naihua Duan, Ruth Klap, Joan Rosenbaum Asarnow, Thomas Belin

Using a health-services study as an illustrative example of longitudinal randomized field research with the potential for participants to be lost to follow-up, the researchers applied a permutation test where the treatment indicator variable is randomly permuted in the context of regression models with covariates and attrition weighting.

Arleen A. Leibowitz, Katherine Desmond, Thomas Belin

Researchers sought to determine whether lack of state Medicaid coverage for infant male circumcision correlates with lower circumcision rates.

Judy Y. Chen, Sharon Swonger, Gerald F. Kominski, Honghu Liu, Ji Eun Lee, Allison L. Diamant

The objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different school-based health insurance strategies to provide coverage to uninsured Korean American children.

Sally Adams, Sheila Husting, Elaine Zahnd, Elizabeth Ozer

The authors studied rates and disparities in preventive health topics covered during routine medical care for adolescents, using a California sample.

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Erin Peckham, Y. Jenny Chia

This policy brief draws upon CHIS 2007 data to examine latest trends in health insurance for the state of California.

Theresa A. Hastert, Susan H. Babey, Allison L. Diamant, E. Richard Brown

In this policy brief, the authors examine why low-income teenagers are almost three times more likely to be obese than teens from more affluent households.

Deborah Koniak-Griffin, Janna Lesser, Tanya Henneman, Rong Huang, Rong Huang, Xin Huang, Jerry Tello, Barbara Kappos, Evelyn Gonzalez-Figueroa, William G. Cumberland

This study evaluates the outcomes of a theory-based, couple-focused HIV prevention program for Latino adolescent mothers and their male partners.

Shana Alex Lavarreda, Melissa S. Gatchell, Ninez A. Ponce, E. Richard Brown, Y. Jenny Chia

This study examines the factors associated with discontinuous health insurance coverage without periods of uninsurance during the past year (ie, switching coverage), and whether it has a detrimental effect on basic access to care.

David Grant, Samantha Kurosky

This policy brief compares three CHIS survey cycles –- 2001, 2003 and 2005 –- to examine key indicators of children’s health in California.

Constance A. Gewa, Robert E. Weiss, Nimrod O. Bwibo, Shannon Whaleya, Marian Sigman, Suzanne P. Murphy, Gail G. Harrison, Charlotte G. Neumann

With the exception of iodine and Fe, there is still very limited information on the effect of micronutrients on cognitive function, especially among school-age children.

Michelle Wilhelm, Ying-Ying Meng, Rudolph P. Rull, Paul English, John Balmes, Beate Ritz

Despite extensive evidence that air pollution affects childhood asthma, state-level and national-level tracking of asthma outcomes in relation to air pollution is limited.

Sue Holtby, Elaine Zahnd, Y. Jenny Chia, Nicole Lordi, David Grant, Mirabai Rao

This report provides a summary of the statewide findings from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), with highlights of changes from 2003 to 2005.

Hala Tamim, Gail G. Harrison, Maria Atoui, Ghina Mumtaz, Faisal El-Kak, Muhieddine Seoud, Khaled Yunis

The objective of the present study was to assess the prevalence and determinants of preconceptional folic acid supplement use among pregnant women in Lebanon.

Analysis ...

Ying-Ying Meng, Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, Christina Lombardi, E. Richard Brown

Despite advances in therapy, asthma remains a disease that is not optimally controlled in many Californians.

Karen Meehan, Gail G. Harrison, Abdelmonem A. Afifi, Nathan Nickel, Eloise Jenks, Anthony Ramirez

An electric pump loan program designed to facilitate breastfeeding for low-income mothers returning to full-time work was evaluated.

Nadereh Pourat

These two fact sheets show that nearly one-third of young children 11 years of age or younger have never visited a dental provider or have not visited a dental provider in more than one year.

Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, Hongjian Yu, E. Richard Brown

The availability of places to engage in physical activity may influence physical activity levels. This study examined whether the relationship between physical activity and access to parks differs depending on adolescents’ sociodemographic, housing and neighborhood characteristics.

Richard E. Kratz, Ninez A. Ponce, Antronette Yancey

This study evaluated the Los Angeles Unified School District Nutrition Network, a large multicomponent nutrition and physical activity program in an ethnically diverse school district, launched in 2000.

Thirty-six ...

Nadereh Pourat

This report examines dental care utilization of California children and finds that disparities in dental visits exist, including lower rates of visits for Latino and African American children and those without dental insurance.

Loan Pham Kim, Gail G. Harrison, Marjorie Kagawa-Singer

This journal article reports the findings of a qualitative study designed to inform the development of a proposed community-wide campaign to promote increased physical activity and fruit and vegetable consumption among low-income Hmong families.

Jennifer R. Kincheloe, E. Richard Brown

Using data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, this study examines participation (and lack of participation) by eligible children in California’s Medi-Cal and Healthy Families programs.

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Ninez A. Ponce, Jean Yoon, Janet Cummings, Thomas Rice

This report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows that job-based health insurance coverage -- the backbone of the state's system of health insurance – continues to decline.

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

Using data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, researchers at the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research were able to produce these fact sheets detailing health insurance coverage, the lack of coverage, and demographic characteristics for counties and regions in California.

Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, E. Richard Brown

Teens living in neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income households are unlikely to have a safe park near their home and are more likely to get less physical activity, according to this policy brief from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Ying-Ying Meng, Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, E. Richard Brown

Using data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), this policy brief examines the racial/ethnic disparities in the burden of asthma among those with active asthma.

Susan H. Babey, Theresa A. Hastert, Ying-Ying Meng, E. Richard Brown

In California, 2.8 million children and adults suffer from active asthma. One out of six of these Californians lives below the poverty level.

Gerald F. Kominski, Sepideh Farivar Varon, Donald E. Morisky, Kevin Malotte, Vicki J. Ebin, Astou Coly, Chi Chiao

For children and adolescents, incentives can serve as a positive reinforcement when trying to get them to complete care that is critical for their health.

Susan H. Babey, David Grant, E. Richard Brown

Using newly available data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2005), as well as data from CHIS 2001 and CHIS 2003, this fact sheet provides an early look at changes over time in the prevalence of smoking, asthma, diabetes, and overweight and obesity in California.

Shana Alex Lavarreda, E. Richard Brown, Jean Yoon, Sungching Glenn

Using data from the 2005 California Health Interview Survey, researchers found that more than half of the uninsured children in California are eligible for public programs but are not enrolled, a further sign of the limitations in current health insurance arrangements.

Susan H. Babey, Ying-Ying Meng, E. Richard Brown, Theresa A. Hastert

Nearly 6 million Californians report that they have difficulty breathing. Moreover, according to this policy brief, asthma among California adults increased from 2001 to 2003 across all age groups and 3.4 ...

UCLA Center for Health Policy Research

This fact sheet created by the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS) team compares parental reports of autism from the 2001 and 2005 California Health Interview Surveys to identify a significant increase in the number of cases between survey periods.

Jean Yoon, E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Sungching Glenn

Despite marginal improvements in job-based health insurance for adults and public program enrollment for children, one in five (6.5 ...

Jennifer R. Kincheloe, Janice Frates, E. Richard Brown

With the goal of developing a comprehensive predictive model of eligible children's enrollment in California's Medicaid (Medi-Cal [MC]) and State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP; Healthy Families [HF]) programs, the authors examined the effects of multiple family-level factors and contextual county-level factors on children's enrollment in Medicaid and SCHIP using data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey, data on outstationed eligibility workers (OEWs), and administrative data from state agencies and local health insurance expansion programs for fiscal year 2000–2001.

Helen Ann Halpin, Sara McMenamin, Nadereh Pourat, Edward Yelin

This paper summarize for the California Legislature the evidence on the medical effectiveness of pediatric asthma self-management training and education (PASMTE), including the use of peak flow meters, spacers and nebulizers and the impact that mandated coverage of these services and devices under Assembly Bill (AB) 2185 would have on total health care expenditures, monthly premiums, health services utilization and the public's health.

Sue Holtby, Elaine Zahnd, Nicole Lordi, Christy McCain, Jenny Chia, John Kurata

Many Californians are still struggling to reach good health, according to this report from the California Health Interview Survey (CHIS), the country's largest population-based state health survey.

Dena R. Herman, Gail G. Harrison, Eloise Jenks

Herma DR, Harrison GG, Jenks E. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. May 2006; 106; pp.

Gregory D. Stevens, Michael Seid, Neal Halfon

Stevens GD, Seid M, Halfon N. Enrolling Vulnerable, Uninsured but Eligible Children in Public Health Insurance: Association With Health Status and Primary Care Access.

Mona Jhawar, Steven P. Wallace

Chronic diseases are the leading causes of death in California and have become among the most common, costly, and often preventable of all health problems.

Susan H. Babey, E. Richard Brown, Theresa A. Hastert

More than one in four California adolescents -- nearly one million in all -- get less than the recommended levels of physical activity, but neighborhood characteristics and access to safe parks have an important effect on whether teens meet activity recommendations, and whether they get any activity at all reports this new health policy research brief using data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003).

Jennifer R. Kincheloe, E. Richard Brown

This report provides estimates of program participation expressed as the ratio of children who are enrolled in either the MC or the HF programs to the total number who are eligible to participate in the programs and who do not have private or employer sponsored health insurance coverage.

Theresa A. Hastert, Susan H. Babey, Allison L. Diamant, E. Richard Brown

Each day two-thirds of California teens drink soda, nearly half eat fast food, and only a quarter eat at least five servings of fruits and vegetables, as reported in this new health policy research brief that uses data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003).

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Thomas Rice, Jennifer R. Kincheloe, Melissa S. Gatchell

This report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research shows that job-based health insurance coverage -- the backbone of the state's system of health insurance -- is declining.

Gerald F. Kominski, Dylan H. Roby, Natalya Mostovskaya

More than 5 million Californians enrolled in HMOs (over 50% of enrollees aged 12-64) are overweight or obese.

Shana Alex Lavarreda, E. Richard Brown, Ninez A. Ponce

Six in ten Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) children have employer-based health insurance and over 90% have insurance all year, but children's coverage differs across AAPI ethnic groups.

Michael A. Rodriguez, Marlena Kane, Lupe Alonzo-Diaz, George R. Flores

This fact sheet describes overweight among Latino adolescents in California based on data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003).

Susan H. Babey, Allison L. Diamant, E. Richard Brown, Theresa A. Hastert

This policy brief describes physical activity among California's adolescents based primarily on data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003).

Claire Brindis, Elizabeth Ozer, Sally Adams, Jane Park, Nicole Lordi, Elaine Zahnd, Sue Holtby

A new report from the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, "Health of California's Adolescents: Findings from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey," presents a public health profile of California adolescents ages 12-17 years.

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda

Between 2001 and 2003, both children and adults lost employment-based health insurance coverage. For children, increased enrollment in Medi-Cal and Healthy Families resulted in a lower uninsured rate.

Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Hongjian Yu, Ying-Ying Meng, Mona Jhawar, Steven P. Wallace

This policy brief highlights the geographic variations in self-reported poor/fair health status, asthma and hypertension rates among uninsured Californians for counties, county-groups, Los Angeles Service Planning Areas, as well as for state legislative and Congressional districts.

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda

This fact sheet examines children's health insurance coverage, and children who are uninsured but eligible for coverage through public programs, using data from the 2003 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2003).

Mona Jhawar, Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Hongjian Yu, Ying-Ying Meng, Y. Jenny Chia, Steven P. Wallace

This policy brief highlights regional variations of rates among California children ages 0-5 and ages 6-17 from limited income families (below 300% FPL) who were uninsured and not eligible for Medi-Cal or Healthy families in 2001.

Veronica F. Gutierrez, Steven P. Wallace, Xóchitl Castañeda

This Binational Health Week fact sheet describes the demographics and basic health status of the nine million Mexican immigrants living in the U.S.

Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Hongjian Yu, Ying-Ying Meng, Y. Jenny Chia, Mona Jhawar, Sripipatana Alek

This policy brief highlights the geographic variations in asthma rates among all Californians for state legislative and Congressional districts.

Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Hongjian Yu, Ying-Ying Meng, Y. Jenny Chia, Alek Sripipatana, Beth L. Newman, Steven P. Wallace

This policy brief highlights the geographic variations in uninsured children's Medi-Cal/Healthy Family eligibility rates by state Assembly, Senate and Congressional districts, as well as by counties and the Los Angeles Service Planning Areas (SPAs).

Gerald F. Kominski, Dylan H. Roby

This new study found that providing health insurance to the estimated 6.3 million Californians who are currently uninsured would increase direct health care expenditures within the state by about $7.4 ...

Sue Holtby, Elaine Zahnd, Wei Yen, Nicole Lordi, Christy McCain, Charles A. DiSogra

This report summarizes selected findings from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey. A broad range of health topics are addressed.

Delight E. Satter, Andrea Zubiate, Melissa S. Gatchell

This report details the findings from a series of focus groups on what young adults (ages 18-24) think is important to provide adolescents in sex education, sexuality education, and reproductive health.

Antronette Yancey, Melissa S. Gatchell, E. Richard Brown, William McCarthy, Allison L. Diamant

This fact sheet examines diabetes prevalence and risk factors among African Americans in California and offers several policy recommendations in response to these findings.

E. Richard Brown, Ninez A. Ponce, Thomas Rice, Shana Alex Lavarreda

This report, based on data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001), examines long-term and intermittent health insurance coverage, and the sources and consequences of resulting periods of uninsurance.

Ying-Ying Meng, Susan H. Babey, Elizabeth Malcom, E. Richard Brown, Neetu Chawla

This in-depth report describes asthma in California based on data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001), the largest state-level health survey in the nation.

Steven P. Wallace, Veronica F. Gutierrez, E. Richard Brown

This health policy fact sheet presents information on selected indicators of the health status and access to health care of Mexican immigrants in California.

Moira Inkelas, Neal Halfon, Kim Uyeda, Gregory D. Stevens, Sue Holtby, Janel Wright, E. Richard Brown

This report, prepared jointly by the UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families and Communities, the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, and the Public Health Institute, is the first of its kind to reveal key measures of health and well being for California's three million children under age 6.

Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Steven P. Wallace, Hongjian Yu, Ying-Ying Meng, Y. Jenny Chia, E. Richard Brown

This policy brief highlights the differences in uninurance rates among the new California Assembly and Senate districts resulting from redistricting based on the 2000 Census.

Allison L. Diamant, Susan H. Babey, E. Richard Brown, Neetu Chawla

Allison L. Diamant, Susan H. Babey, E. Richard Brown, Neetu Chawla

This report, prepared by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, is the first on diabetes prevalence among Californians using data from the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001).

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda

The UCLA Center for Health Policy Research prepared this new fact sheet report as part of its participation in the Cover the Uninsured Week (CTUW) campaign - an unprecedented week long series of national and local activities taking place during the week of Monday, March 10, through Friday, March 14.

Nadereh Pourat, Gabrielle Lessard, Armine Lulejian, Lida M. Becerra, Rini Chakraborty

This fact sheet is a joint effort of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the National Immigration Law Center (NILC) using the 2001 California Health Interview Survey data.

Jennifer Aguayo, E. Richard Brown, Michael A. Rodriguez, Lia Margolis

This is a joint publication of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California (LCHC).

Gail G. Harrison, Charles A. DiSogra, George Manolo-LeClair, Jennifer Aguayo, Wei Yen

More than 2.24 million low-income adults in California cannot always afford to put food on the table and, as a result, almost one out of three of these adults, 658,000, experiences episodes of hunger.

Delight E. Satter, Steven P. Wallace, Trang M. Le, Andrea Zubiate

Background: More American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) reside in California than any other single state in the United States; Los Angeles is home to the largest number of AIAN in the country.

E. Richard Brown, Ninez A. Ponce, Thomas Rice, Shana Alex Lavarreda

This report examines health insurance coverage in California based on the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS 2001) data.

E. Richard Brown, Ying-Ying Meng, Susan H. Babey, Elizabeth Malcom

A study released by the Center examines the prevalence of asthma in California, the prevention and management of asthma symptoms, and the consequences of poorly managed asthma.

E. Richard Brown, Shana Alex Lavarreda, Lida M. Becerra

E. Richard Brown, Ying-Ying Meng, Carolyn A. Mendez-Luck, Hongjian Yu

E. Richard Brown, Ninez A. Ponce, Thomas Rice

E. Richard Brown, Jennifer R. Kincheloe, Hongjian Yu

E. Richard Brown, Roberta Wyn, Hongjian Yu, Abel Valenzuela, Liane Dong

Delight E. Satter, E. Richard Brown

Delight E. Satter, E. Richard Brown

On behalf of the Universal Coverage for California’s Children Coalition, Kaiser Permanente Cares for Kids (KPCK) asked the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research (the Center) to study the attitudes, perceptions, and opinions of Californians with incomes between 200% – 275% of the federal poverty level about the value of health insurance for their children. Focus ...

E. Richard Brown, John Nakashima, Nadereh Pourat, Natasha Razack, Sylvia Chu

This report examines the extent to which managed care organizations (MCOs) that serve Medicaid beneficiaries are promoting effective management, control and prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among their enrollees—and whether these organizations’ policies correspond with the actual practices of the primary care providers in their networks.

Jennifer R. Kincheloe, E. Richard Brown, Hongjian Yu

Report to the California Assembly Health Committee Based on Research Funded by a Technical Assistance ...

Ninez A. Ponce, Stephanie Teleki, E. Richard Brown

More than 2 million children in California do not have any form of health insurance. The proportion of uninsured children in the state has increased over the past several years (from 17% in 1995 to 21% in 1998) and is significantly higher than in the rest of the nation (15% in 1998).

Sara Rosenbaum, Anne Markus, Dylan H. Roby

This analysis, prepared for the Health Care Financing Administration and the Health Resources and Services Administration, examines issues that arise under laws designed to avert excessive cost-sharing in the case of low income families whose children participate in the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Anne Markus, Sara Rosenbaum, Dylan H. Roby

This paper presents the principal findings of more than 30 articles and reports on premiums and cost-sharing.