Mary Beth Terry, Parisa Tehranifar, Rebecca D Kehm
{"title":"Stemming the Rising Tide of Early-Onset Cancers: Research Gaps and Public Health Actions.","authors":"Mary Beth Terry, Parisa Tehranifar, Rebecca D Kehm","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-082024-063125","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-082024-063125","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Early-onset cancers (EOCs), typically defined as cancers diagnosed before age 50, are rising across multiple organ sites and populations globally. EOCs often exhibit more aggressive biology than later-onset cancers and contribute disproportionately to premature mortality and morbidity. A large sex disparity exists, with two-thirds of EOCs diagnosed in women. While EOC incidence is increasing broadly, patterns vary by geography, income, and race/ethnicity, offering clues about the role of health behaviors, environmental exposures, preventive care, and broader social and economic contexts. Gaps remain in our etiologic understanding of EOCs, including the contribution of modifiable environmental factors. Addressing this burden will require coordinated research using novel epidemiologic, intervention, and implementation science approaches, alongside policy action. We provide an overview of EOC trends, examine key methodological considerations, review established and suspected risk factors, and highlight opportunities to strengthen prevention and early detection, with a focus on US and relevant global considerations.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"59-80"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145543781","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Health Care Ramifications of Pervasive Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising.","authors":"Richard L Kravitz","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081524-111735","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081524-111735","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Direct-to-consumer (DTC) advertisements for prescription drugs are an enduring feature of the US media landscape. These ads are costly (>$8 billion expended by drug manufacturers in 2023), legally protected, and tightly regulated in theory but less so in practice. DTC ads are well-established in magazines and television, with recent encroachment into social media and telehealth. Many ads rely on emotional appeals and captivating visuals, while few ads provide quantitative information on drug benefits and harms. Research shows that DTC advertising increases consumer awareness, drives prescription requests by patients, promotes prescribing by clinicians, and increases pharmaceutical expenditures. Based on limited data, effects on prescribing quality are mixed. Legal constraints notwithstanding, a case for more energetic regulation of DTC advertising can be made on normative, empirical, and logical grounds. Three broad strategies are recommended: (<i>a</i>) increased scrutiny, achieved by better funding of the US Food and Drug Administration and creative deployment of new technologies, including artificial intelligence; (<i>b</i>) moratoria on advertising for new, incompletely tested, or particularly hazardous drugs; and (<i>c</i>) selective prohibition of ads for specialty drugs that are almost universally prescribed by bona fide experts.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"479-497"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145240273","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Miriam E Marlier, Rachel Connolly, Yiqun Ma, Michael Jerrett, Tarik Benmarhnia
{"title":"Compound Climate Exposures and Public Health: A Synthesis of Research and Future Directions.","authors":"Miriam E Marlier, Rachel Connolly, Yiqun Ma, Michael Jerrett, Tarik Benmarhnia","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090924-113926","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090924-113926","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Compound climate events involve the intersection of individual climate events that are linked through space, time, or both. Anthropogenic climate change will likely increase the burden of these compound events, which often have synergistic health effects, meaning that the combined effect exceeds the sum of their individual parts. These include multivariate (co-occurring) events such as extreme heat and wildfires as well as temporally compounding (sequential) events such as debris flows after wildfire events. Existing epidemiological evidence has mostly identified synergistic health effects, primarily associated with multivariate compound climate exposures at short timescales. The research, however, is often limited by a lack of information on explicit exposure pathways that link changes in climate to health outcomes and inequalities. We discuss opportunities for public health interventions and methodological considerations for future studies in a compound climate and health framework.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"305-323"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145394860","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Framework for Applied Intersectionality Research (FAIR): Reframing Intersectionality as a Tool to Advance Health Equity and Social Justice Action, Not Just Empirical Research.","authors":"Lisa Bowleg","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081324-042610","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081324-042610","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Historically rooted in US Black feminist activism, intersectionality emerged as an analytical lens through which to enhance knowledge about how multiple and interlocking systems of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, and class exploitation) shape the lives of US Black women and other historically marginalized populations, and as a tool for critical praxis, not empirical research. Intersectionality has numerous benefits for the field of public health. Accordingly, interest in intersectionality and intersectionality research has flourished within US and global public health. This review highlights some of the theoretical and methodological articles and systematic and scoping reviews focused on intersectionality in the field. It also addresses several of the conceptual and methodological complexities and challenges of qualitative and quantitative intersectionality research with the introduction of a Framework for Applied Intersectionality Research (FAIR). FAIR aims to reframe intersectionality as a critical transformative tool to advance health equity and social justice action, not just empirical research.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"369-392"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145776584","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Julian D Marshall, Libby H Koolik, Alper Unal, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Joshua S Apte
{"title":"Advancing Methods and Models that Promote Equity in Ambient Air Quality.","authors":"Julian D Marshall, Libby H Koolik, Alper Unal, Rachel Morello-Frosch, Joshua S Apte","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-091824-125106","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-091824-125106","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Several groups in the United States, including communities of color and low-income communities, are frequently disproportionately exposed to ambient (i.e., outdoor) air pollution, reflecting unjust placement of emission sources, systemic bias, and historic race-based land use planning. Eliminating these inequities is critical for advancing environmental justice. This review synthesizes methodological innovations for characterizing and mitigating ambient air pollution inequities, focusing on the past 10 years, mostly in the United States. Advances in exposure assessment (e.g., empirical models, satellite remote sensing, mobile monitoring, sensor networks) provide new tools for characterizing disparities. Advances in techniques for attributing pollution to specific sources (e.g., reduced-complexity models) reveal how emission-reduction approaches may or may not eliminate disparities. Spatially targeted emission reductions are critical for eliminating relative disparities; conventional approaches (e.g., sectoral emission reductions, national concentration standards) are unlikely to eliminate those disparities. This article provides insights for effective interventions to promote equity in ambient air pollution exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"283-303"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145795146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Effectiveness of Financial Incentives for Health Behavior Change: A Narrative Review and Analysis.","authors":"Karen Glanz, Harsha Thirumurthy, Natasha Agnes D'cruze","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081624-060027","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081624-060027","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Financial incentives have been widely studied and implemented as instruments to encourage healthy behavior. This narrative expert review synthesizes evidence from 39 systematic, meta-analytic, narrative, and scoping reviews examining incentive-based interventions for four health behaviors: physical activity, smoking cessation, vaccination, and medication adherence. The reviewed studies encompass a wide range of populations and contexts, though the evidence is primarily in high-income settings, with less representation from low- and middle-income countries. Across domains, financial incentives tend to produce modest, often short-lived improvements; greater effectiveness is observed when incentives are substantial, promptly delivered, and contextually tailored and when behavioral outcomes are tracked using objective measures. Targeted incentives may reduce disparities in health behavior, though their ethical and social acceptability merit careful consideration. Gaps in the literature include short follow-up windows and limited cost-effectiveness data. Future research should probe long-term outcomes, explore heterogeneity of response to better understand mechanisms of sustained change, and study the effects of nonfinancial or social incentives.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"215-233"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145821830","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Hearing Loss Among Older Adults: Epidemiology, Disparities, and Gaps in Research.","authors":"Nicholas S Reed, Kening Jiang, Jennifer A Deal","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081524-110330","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081524-110330","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The number of older adults with hearing loss increases dramatically with age, as does hearing loss severity, yet hearing aid use lags substantially behind prevalence, due, in part, to affordability and accessibility barriers for hearing care. Recent studies have demonstrated that hearing loss is closely linked to the onset of dementia; declines in cognitive, physical, and social function; and poorer health care utilization. Recent gold-standard randomized controlled trials suggest that hearing care modifies poor health outcomes in some older adults. Concurrent with research, policy efforts have attempted to narrow the gap in hearing aid ownership among older adults with hearing loss. This article reviews the evidence and gaps in research on an issue of critical health and economic importance.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"41-58"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12697576/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145402730","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Policing as a Structural Determinant of Health.","authors":"Emma Rock, Leo Beletsky, Brandon Del Pozo","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071723-012319","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-071723-012319","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Policing in the United States functions as a structural determinant of health, with direct and collateral impacts that extend well beyond maintaining order and public safety. This review synthesizes recent evidence (from 2015 to 2025) on the relationship between policing and health. Using a rapid evidence assessment, we examine peer-reviewed and gray literature to capture physical, mental, and community-level outcomes, as well as pathways and mechanisms that link policing to health. Findings indicate that police use of force results in significant injury and deaths annually, disproportionately affecting communities of color. Beyond direct effects, policing contributes to chronic stress, trauma, and economic strain across community and occupational ecosystems. These collateral impacts compound existing structural inequities. Despite promising alternatives to police responses, evidence gaps and reliance on cross-sectional studies limit causal inference. Future research should strengthen data systems, focus on causal research, and integrate public health priorities into public safety strategies.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"235-247"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145716517","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Seigi Karasaki, Alique G Berberian, Hiwot Y Zewdie, Lara J Cushing, Trang VoPham
{"title":"Geospatial Approaches for Environmental Justice: A Critical Review.","authors":"Seigi Karasaki, Alique G Berberian, Hiwot Y Zewdie, Lara J Cushing, Trang VoPham","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090924-033158","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-090924-033158","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Environmental justice (EJ) research is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with the unequal distribution of environmental burdens and benefits across different sociodemographic identities (e.g., race, class). While considerations of space and time with respect to environmental exposures and health outcomes have always been central to EJ, the state of the science on geospatial methods, measures, and technologies is rapidly advancing, as are their applications in research. We find that geospatial technologies have extended researchers' abilities to more precisely link the spatial extents of environmental exposures to when and where people live, work, and play. Geospatial data are also useful in analyzing systemic oppression and structural racism as root causes of environmental injustice via metrics of segregation and redlining. This review provides an overview of how geospatial methods and technologies are being applied to EJ research for (<i>a</i>) population identification, (<i>b</i>) exposure assessment, (<i>c</i>) outcome ascertainment, and (<i>d</i>) research translation.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"19-39"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145821833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Keon L Gilbert, Danielle Joyner, Arieana Pirbaksh, Melody S Goodman
{"title":"Effective Narratives and Strategies from Successful Social Change Movements to Inform Public Health.","authors":"Keon L Gilbert, Danielle Joyner, Arieana Pirbaksh, Melody S Goodman","doi":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081324-044745","DOIUrl":"10.1146/annurev-publhealth-081324-044745","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Racism is an underlying cause of health inequities and is entrenched in health systems, disproportionately affecting marginalized groups. Advancing health equity requires reimagining health systems to uproot racism from health-related policymaking. Racism, in its systemic, cultural, and interpersonal forms, remains a significant threat to health equity, a barrier to reform, and a public health crisis. This review draws lessons from US social movements-including tobacco control, sexual and gender minority rights, criminal justice reform, civil rights, and reproductive justice-to identify effective strategies for change. Drawing on key theories, typologies, and insights from the literature, we examine how organizing, messaging, and mobilization have shaped narratives, have fostered public will, and have driven policy reform. Prior movements can serve as a guide for the development and implementation of a social change movement aimed at addressing racism in public health.</p>","PeriodicalId":50752,"journal":{"name":"Annual Review of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"197-213"},"PeriodicalIF":20.7,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145764071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}