Brent A Coull
Biographic Data
| ID | 1465412 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Brent A Coull |
| GIVEN NAMES | Brent A |
| FAMILY NAME | Coull |
| SIGNATURE | COULL B A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Harvard University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1808-4156 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 34 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 138 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 34 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2006 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Redlining, Community Wealth, and Air Pollution: A Tale of Three Cities—Boston, Nashville, and Detroit
Despite US air quality improvements since the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, disparities in air pollution between communities persist. We studied whether persistent within-city geospatial disparities in pollution continued over time in historically minoritized and under-resourced areas codified as "redlined" in 1930's government mapping. We evaluated how longitudinal demographic patterns and disparities in community wealth and resources related t…
Associations between air pollution and psychiatric symptoms in the Normative Aging Study
Exposure to gaseous air pollutants was associated with higher intensity of psychiatric symptoms among a cohort of older men, particularly in communities with lower socio-economic or housing conditions
In Utero Exposure to Caffeine and Acetaminophen, the Gut Microbiome, and Neurodevelopmental Outcomes: A Prospective Birth Cohort Study
Pregnant individuals are exposed to acetaminophen and caffeine, but it is unknown how these exposures interact with the developing gut microbiome. We aimed to determine whether acetaminophen and/or caffeine relate to the childhood gut microbiome and whether features of the gut microbiome alter the relationship between acetaminophen/caffeine and neurodevelopment. Forty-nine and 85 participants provided meconium and stool samples at 6-7, respective…
Comparing denominator sources for real-time disease incidence modeling: American Community Survey and WorldPop
Across the United States public health community in 2020, in the midst of a pandemic and increased concern regarding racial/ethnic health disparities, there is widespread concern about our ability to accurately estimate small-area disease incidence rates due to the absence of a recent census to obtain reliable population denominators. 2010 decennial census data are likely outdated, and intercensal population estimates from the Census Bureau, whic…
Air Pollution, Neonatal Immune Responses, and Potential Joint Effects of Maternal Depression
Prenatal maternal exposure to air pollution may cause adverse health effects in offspring, potentially through altered immune responses. Maternal psychosocial distress can also alter immune function and may increase gestational vulnerability to air pollution exposure. We investigated whether prenatal exposure to air pollution is associated with altered immune responses in cord blood mononuclear cells (CBMCs) and potential modification by maternal…
Identifying US County-level characteristics associated with high Covid-19 burden
These county-level associations are based off complete data from the entire country, come from a single modeling framework that longitudinally analyzes the US COVID-19 pandemic at the county-level, and are applicable to guiding government resource allocation policies to different US counties
Impact of Differential Privacy and Census Tract Data Source (Decennial Census Versus American Community Survey) for Monitoring Health Inequities
Objectives. To investigate how census tract (CT) estimates of mortality rates and inequities are affected by (1) differential privacy (DP), whereby the public decennial census (DC) data are injected with statistical “noise” to protect individual privacy, and (2) uncertainty arising from the small number of different persons surveyed each year in a given CT for the American Community Survey (ACS). Methods. We compared estimates of the 2008–2012 av…
Prenatal Ambient Particulate Matter Exposure and Longitudinal Weight Growth Trajectories in Early Childhood
Air pollution exposure during pregnancy has been associated with impaired fetal growth and postnatal weight gain, but few studies have examined the effect on weight growth trajectories. We examine the association between validated 1 km 2 resolution particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations, averaged over pregnancy, and sex-specific growth trajectories from birth to age six of participants in the Boston-based Children's HealthWatch cohort (4797 …
Racial Disparities in Associations between Neighborhood Demographic Polarization and Birth Weight
Neighborhood demographic polarization, or the extent to which a privileged population group outnumbers a deprived group, can affect health by influencing social dynamics. While using birth records from 2001 to 2013 in Massachusetts ( n = 629,675), we estimated the effect of two demographic indices, racial residential polarization (RRP) and economic residential polarization (ERP), on birth weight outcomes, which are established predictors of the n…
Population-scale longitudinal mapping of Covid-19 symptoms, behaviour and testing
Prenatal Maternal Depression and Neonatal Immune Responses
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the association of lifetime maternal depression with regulation of immune responses in the infant, measured by cytokine levels and lymphocyte proliferation (LP) in cord blood mononuclear cells collected at delivery. METHODS: We studied women recruited in early pregnancy into the Project Viva longitudinal cohort who had cord blood assayed after delivery (N = 463). Women reported about depressive sympt…
Smoking-Related DNA Methylation is Associated with DNA Methylation Phenotypic Age Acceleration: The Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study
DNA methylation may play a critical role in aging and age-related diseases. DNA methylation phenotypic age (DNAmPhenoAge) is a new aging biomarker and predictor of chronic disease risk. While smoking is a strong risk factor for chronic diseases and influences methylation, its influence on DNAmPhenoAge is unknown. We investigated associations of self-reported and epigenetic smoking indicators with DNAmPhenoAge acceleration in a longitudinal aging …
Effect of Residential Greenness and Nearby Parks on Respiratory and Allergic Diseases among Middle School Adolescents in a Chinese City
Research on the health impacts of green environments has mainly been conducted in developed countries. Differences in the urban forms between China and Western countries make it essential to understand the role of greenspace in Chinese settings. From 2014 to 2015, middle school students ( n = 5643) in Suzhou, China were enrolled in a study on the health effect of residential greenness. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and distanc…
Police-Related Deaths and Neighborhood Economic and Racial/Ethnic Polarization, United States, 2015–2016
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015–2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of …
Residential Greenness and Birthweight in the State of Massachusetts, USA
Natural vegetation, or greenness, may benefit maternal health and consequently, fetal growth, by providing opportunities for physical activity and psychological restoration, and decreasing detrimental environmental exposures. We retrieved Massachusetts Birth Registry data from 2001−2013 and investigated the association between residential greenness and birthweight in full-term births (≥37 weeks gestation). We calculated average residential greenn…
Estimating the health consequences of flight attendant work: Comparing flight attendant health to the general population in a cross-sectional study
We observed higher rates of specific adverse health outcomes in U.S. flight attendants compared to the general population, as well as associations between longer tenure and health conditions, which should be interpreted in light of recall bias and a cross-sectional design. Future longitudinal studies should evaluate specific exposure-disease associations among flight crew
Impact of Maternal Lifetime Interpersonal Trauma on Children's Asthma: Mediation Through Maternal Active Asthma During Pregnancy
OBJECTIVE: Traumatic stressors, including child abuse and/or interpersonal violence over a woman's lifecourse, can affect the health of her children. This study examines the associations between maternal lifetime interpersonal trauma (IPT) and children's asthma by age 6 years (n = 857). METHODS: Pregnant women completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale; IPT exposure was categorized as unexposed (55%), early (childhood and/or teen years only, 25…
Maternal Lifetime Trauma Exposure, Prenatal Cortisol, and Infant Negative Affectivity
Little research has examined the impact of maternal lifetime trauma exposure on infant temperament. We examined associations between maternal trauma history and infant negative affectivity and modification by prenatal cortisol exposure in a sociodemographically diverse sample of mother–infant dyads. During pregnancy, mothers completed measures of lifetime trauma exposure and current stressors. Third‐trimester cortisol output was assessed from mat…
Urinary Concentrations of Insecticide and Herbicide Metabolites among Pregnant Women in Rural Ghana: A Pilot Study
Larger studies are necessary to more fully explore predictors of exposure in this population
Symptoms related to new flight attendant uniforms
This study found a relationship between health complaints and the introduction of new uniforms in this longitudinal occupational cohort
Local Residential Segregation Matters: Stronger Association of Census Tract Compared to Conventional City-Level Measures with Fatal and Non-Fatal Assaults (Total and Firearm Related), Using the Index …
Killed by Police: Validity of Media-Based Data and Misclassification of Death Certificates in Massachusetts, 2004–2016
Objectives. To assess the validity of demographic data reported in news media–based data sets for persons killed by police in Massachusetts (2004–2016) and to evaluate misclassification of these deaths in vital statistics mortality data. Methods. We identified 84 deaths resulting from police intervention in 4 news media–based data sources (WGBH News, Fatal Encounters, The Guardian, and The Washington Post) and, via record linkage, conducted match…
Reproductive justice & preventable deaths: State funding, family planning, abortion, and infant mortality, US 1980–2010
Insofar as reducing infant mortality is a government priority, our data underscore the need, despite heightened contention, for adequate public funding for abortion services and for redressing health inequities
Income Inequities and Medicaid Expansion are Related to Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Delayed or Forgone Care Due to Cost
BACKGROUND: Monitoring political and social determinants of delayed or forgone care due to cost is necessary to evaluate efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in access to care. Our objective was to examine the extent to which state Medicaid expansion decisions and personal household income may be associated with individual-level racial and ethnic disparities in delayed or forgone care due to cost, at baseline, before the implementation…
Bayesian kernel machine regression for estimating the health effects of multi-pollutant mixtures
Because humans are invariably exposed to complex chemical mixtures, estimating the health effects of multi-pollutant exposures is of critical concern in environmental epidemiology, and to regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, most health effects studies focus on single agents or consider simple two-way interaction models, in part because we lack the statistical methodology to more realistically capture the…
Local Residential Segregation Matters: Stronger Association of Census Tract Compared to Conventional City-Level Measures with Fatal and Non-Fatal Assaults (Total and Firearm Related), Using the Index …
The Unique Impact of Abolition of Jim Crow Laws on Reducing Inequities in Infant Death Rates and Implications for Choice of Comparison Groups in Analyzing Societal Determinants of Health
Objectives. We explored associations between the abolition of Jim Crow laws (i.e., state laws legalizing racial discrimination overturned by the 1964 US Civil Rights Act) and birth cohort trends in infant death rates. Methods. We analyzed 1959 to 2006 US Black and White infant death rates within and across sets of states (polities) with and without Jim Crow laws. Results. Between 1965 and 1969, a unique convergence of Black infant death rates occ…
Mapping and Measuring Social Disparities in Premature Mortality: The Impact of Census Tract Poverty within and across Boston Neighborhoods, 1999–2001
Black carbon exposure, socioeconomic and racial/ethnic spatial polarization, and the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE)
Spatial social polarisation: Using the Index of Concentration at the Extremes jointly for income and race/ethnicity to analyse risk of hypertension
BACKGROUND: Growing spatial social and economic polarisation may be an important societal determinant of health, but only a few studies have used the recently developed Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) to analyse the impact of joint concentrations of privilege and privation on health outcomes. We explore use of the ICE to investigate risk of hypertension in an urban, multiracial/ethnic, and predominantly working-class study population…
Police-Related Deaths and Neighborhood Economic and Racial/Ethnic Polarization, United States, 2015–2016
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015–2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of …
Killed by Police: Validity of Media-Based Data and Misclassification of Death Certificates in Massachusetts, 2004–2016
Objectives. To assess the validity of demographic data reported in news media–based data sets for persons killed by police in Massachusetts (2004–2016) and to evaluate misclassification of these deaths in vital statistics mortality data. Methods. We identified 84 deaths resulting from police intervention in 4 news media–based data sources (WGBH News, Fatal Encounters, The Guardian, and The Washington Post) and, via record linkage, conducted match…
Reproductive Justice and the Pace of Change: Socioeconomic Trends in US Infant Death Rates by Legal Status of Abortion, 1960–1980
US infant death rates for 1960 to 1980 declined most quickly in (1) 1970 to 1973 in states that legalized abortion in 1970, especially for infants in the lowest 3 income quintiles (annual percentage change = −11.6; 95% confidence interval = −18.7, −3.8), and (2) the mid-to-late 1960s, also in low-income quintiles, for both Black and White infants, albeit unrelated to abortion laws. These results imply that research is warranted on whether current…
Impact of Differential Privacy and Census Tract Data Source (Decennial Census Versus American Community Survey) for Monitoring Health Inequities
Objectives. To investigate how census tract (CT) estimates of mortality rates and inequities are affected by (1) differential privacy (DP), whereby the public decennial census (DC) data are injected with statistical “noise” to protect individual privacy, and (2) uncertainty arising from the small number of different persons surveyed each year in a given CT for the American Community Survey (ACS). Methods. We compared estimates of the 2008–2012 av…
Population-scale longitudinal mapping of Covid-19 symptoms, behaviour and testing
Mapping and Measuring Social Disparities in Premature Mortality: The Impact of Census Tract Poverty within and across Boston Neighborhoods, 1999–2001
The non-linear risk of mortality by income level in a healthy population: US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey mortality follow-up cohort, 1988–2001
The majority of the income associated mortality risk in individuals between the ages of 18-77 in the United States is among the population whose family income is below the median (equal to $20,190 in 1991, 3.2 times the poverty level). Efforts to decrease socioeconomic disparities may have the greatest impact if focused on this population
Cardiovascular inflammation in healthy women: Multilevel associations with state-level prosperity, productivity and income inequality
We found associations between state-level socioeconomic conditions and hsCRP among healthy women. Personal household income was more closely associated with sICAM-1 and fibrinogen than state-level socioeconomic conditions. Additional research should examine these associations in other cohorts, and investigate what more-advantaged states do differently than less-advantaged states that may influence levels of cardiovascular inflammation among healt…
Chemical composition and sources of particle pollution in affluent and poor neighborhoods of Accra, Ghana
The highest levels of air pollution in the world now occur in developing country cities, where air pollution sources differ from high-income countries. We analyzed particulate matter (PM) chemical composition and estimated the contributions of various sources to particle pollution in poor and affluent neighborhoods of Accra, Ghana. Elements from earth’s crust were most abundant during the seasonal Harmattan period between late December and late J…
The Unique Impact of Abolition of Jim Crow Laws on Reducing Inequities in Infant Death Rates and Implications for Choice of Comparison Groups in Analyzing Societal Determinants of Health
Objectives. We explored associations between the abolition of Jim Crow laws (i.e., state laws legalizing racial discrimination overturned by the 1964 US Civil Rights Act) and birth cohort trends in infant death rates. Methods. We analyzed 1959 to 2006 US Black and White infant death rates within and across sets of states (polities) with and without Jim Crow laws. Results. Between 1965 and 1969, a unique convergence of Black infant death rates occ…
Bayesian kernel machine regression for estimating the health effects of multi-pollutant mixtures
Because humans are invariably exposed to complex chemical mixtures, estimating the health effects of multi-pollutant exposures is of critical concern in environmental epidemiology, and to regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. However, most health effects studies focus on single agents or consider simple two-way interaction models, in part because we lack the statistical methodology to more realistically capture the…
The impact of weather changes on air quality and health in the United States in 1994–2012
Air quality is heavily influenced by weather conditions. In this study, we assessed the impact of long-term weather changes on air quality and health in the US during 1994-2012. We quantified past weather-related increases, or 'weather penalty', in ozone (O 3 ) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), and thereafter estimated the associated excess deaths. Using statistical regression methods, we derived the weather penalty as the additional increas…
Black carbon exposure, socioeconomic and racial/ethnic spatial polarization, and the Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE)
Spatial social polarisation: Using the Index of Concentration at the Extremes jointly for income and race/ethnicity to analyse risk of hypertension
BACKGROUND: Growing spatial social and economic polarisation may be an important societal determinant of health, but only a few studies have used the recently developed Index of Concentration at the Extremes (ICE) to analyse the impact of joint concentrations of privilege and privation on health outcomes. We explore use of the ICE to investigate risk of hypertension in an urban, multiracial/ethnic, and predominantly working-class study population…
Reproductive Justice and the Pace of Change: Socioeconomic Trends in US Infant Death Rates by Legal Status of Abortion, 1960–1980
US infant death rates for 1960 to 1980 declined most quickly in (1) 1970 to 1973 in states that legalized abortion in 1970, especially for infants in the lowest 3 income quintiles (annual percentage change = −11.6; 95% confidence interval = −18.7, −3.8), and (2) the mid-to-late 1960s, also in low-income quintiles, for both Black and White infants, albeit unrelated to abortion laws. These results imply that research is warranted on whether current…
Reproductive justice & preventable deaths: State funding, family planning, abortion, and infant mortality, US 1980–2010
Insofar as reducing infant mortality is a government priority, our data underscore the need, despite heightened contention, for adequate public funding for abortion services and for redressing health inequities
Income Inequities and Medicaid Expansion are Related to Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Delayed or Forgone Care Due to Cost
BACKGROUND: Monitoring political and social determinants of delayed or forgone care due to cost is necessary to evaluate efforts to reduce racial and ethnic disparities in access to care. Our objective was to examine the extent to which state Medicaid expansion decisions and personal household income may be associated with individual-level racial and ethnic disparities in delayed or forgone care due to cost, at baseline, before the implementation…
Impact of Maternal Lifetime Interpersonal Trauma on Children's Asthma: Mediation Through Maternal Active Asthma During Pregnancy
OBJECTIVE: Traumatic stressors, including child abuse and/or interpersonal violence over a woman's lifecourse, can affect the health of her children. This study examines the associations between maternal lifetime interpersonal trauma (IPT) and children's asthma by age 6 years (n = 857). METHODS: Pregnant women completed the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale; IPT exposure was categorized as unexposed (55%), early (childhood and/or teen years only, 25…
Maternal Lifetime Trauma Exposure, Prenatal Cortisol, and Infant Negative Affectivity
Little research has examined the impact of maternal lifetime trauma exposure on infant temperament. We examined associations between maternal trauma history and infant negative affectivity and modification by prenatal cortisol exposure in a sociodemographically diverse sample of mother–infant dyads. During pregnancy, mothers completed measures of lifetime trauma exposure and current stressors. Third‐trimester cortisol output was assessed from mat…
Urinary Concentrations of Insecticide and Herbicide Metabolites among Pregnant Women in Rural Ghana: A Pilot Study
Larger studies are necessary to more fully explore predictors of exposure in this population
Symptoms related to new flight attendant uniforms
This study found a relationship between health complaints and the introduction of new uniforms in this longitudinal occupational cohort
Local Residential Segregation Matters: Stronger Association of Census Tract Compared to Conventional City-Level Measures with Fatal and Non-Fatal Assaults (Total and Firearm Related), Using the Index …
Killed by Police: Validity of Media-Based Data and Misclassification of Death Certificates in Massachusetts, 2004–2016
Objectives. To assess the validity of demographic data reported in news media–based data sets for persons killed by police in Massachusetts (2004–2016) and to evaluate misclassification of these deaths in vital statistics mortality data. Methods. We identified 84 deaths resulting from police intervention in 4 news media–based data sources (WGBH News, Fatal Encounters, The Guardian, and The Washington Post) and, via record linkage, conducted match…
Residential Greenness and Birthweight in the State of Massachusetts, USA
Natural vegetation, or greenness, may benefit maternal health and consequently, fetal growth, by providing opportunities for physical activity and psychological restoration, and decreasing detrimental environmental exposures. We retrieved Massachusetts Birth Registry data from 2001−2013 and investigated the association between residential greenness and birthweight in full-term births (≥37 weeks gestation). We calculated average residential greenn…
Estimating the health consequences of flight attendant work: Comparing flight attendant health to the general population in a cross-sectional study
We observed higher rates of specific adverse health outcomes in U.S. flight attendants compared to the general population, as well as associations between longer tenure and health conditions, which should be interpreted in light of recall bias and a cross-sectional design. Future longitudinal studies should evaluate specific exposure-disease associations among flight crew
Prenatal Maternal Depression and Neonatal Immune Responses
OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to examine the association of lifetime maternal depression with regulation of immune responses in the infant, measured by cytokine levels and lymphocyte proliferation (LP) in cord blood mononuclear cells collected at delivery. METHODS: We studied women recruited in early pregnancy into the Project Viva longitudinal cohort who had cord blood assayed after delivery (N = 463). Women reported about depressive sympt…
Smoking-Related DNA Methylation is Associated with DNA Methylation Phenotypic Age Acceleration: The Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study
DNA methylation may play a critical role in aging and age-related diseases. DNA methylation phenotypic age (DNAmPhenoAge) is a new aging biomarker and predictor of chronic disease risk. While smoking is a strong risk factor for chronic diseases and influences methylation, its influence on DNAmPhenoAge is unknown. We investigated associations of self-reported and epigenetic smoking indicators with DNAmPhenoAge acceleration in a longitudinal aging …
Effect of Residential Greenness and Nearby Parks on Respiratory and Allergic Diseases among Middle School Adolescents in a Chinese City
Research on the health impacts of green environments has mainly been conducted in developed countries. Differences in the urban forms between China and Western countries make it essential to understand the role of greenspace in Chinese settings. From 2014 to 2015, middle school students ( n = 5643) in Suzhou, China were enrolled in a study on the health effect of residential greenness. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and distanc…
Police-Related Deaths and Neighborhood Economic and Racial/Ethnic Polarization, United States, 2015–2016
Objectives. To estimate the association between rates of police-related deaths and neighborhood residential segregation (by income, race/ethnicity, or both combined) in the United States. Methods. We identified police-related deaths that occurred in the United States (2015–2016) using a data set from the Guardian newspaper. We used census data to estimate expected police-related death counts for all US census tracts and to calculate the Index of …
Prenatal Ambient Particulate Matter Exposure and Longitudinal Weight Growth Trajectories in Early Childhood
Air pollution exposure during pregnancy has been associated with impaired fetal growth and postnatal weight gain, but few studies have examined the effect on weight growth trajectories. We examine the association between validated 1 km 2 resolution particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) concentrations, averaged over pregnancy, and sex-specific growth trajectories from birth to age six of participants in the Boston-based Children's HealthWatch cohort (4797 …
Medicine (29 works) · Demography (19 works) · Environmental health (19 works) · Demography (15 works) · Health disparities and outcomes (14 works) · Population (14 works) · Geography (11 works) · Internal Medicine (11 works) · Public health (10 works) · Air Quality and Health Impacts (9 works)