College of Health

CORVALLIS, Ore. – An analysis of high school soccer players suggests that incorporating a lower extremity injury prevention program results in fewer anterior cruciate ligament tears and a big reduction in health care expenses.

The study by Oregon State University researchers shows that every dollar spent on preventing ACL tears saves more than seven times that much in treatment and rehabilitation costs, which the researchers note could mean a huge return on investment for insurance companies willing to fund lower extremity injury prevention programs, or IPPs.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The majority of low-income mothers in Oregon who rely on federal cash assistance around the time of childbirth are in the program for less than a year, suggesting they’re using it as a form of paid family leave, Oregon State University research shows.

The first-of-its-kind study has important implications in the state, which in 2023 established a taxpayer-funded paid family leave program, and throughout the United States as poverty has a particularly high incidence among young children.

CORVALLIS, Ore. – A study of more than 700 counties across multiple U.S. states found a link between childhood leukemia and levels of decaying radon gas, including those lower than the federal guideline for mitigation.

The findings are important because there are few established risk factors for cancer in children and the role of the environment has not been explored much, said Oregon State University’s Matthew Bozigar, who led the research.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — A recent study by Oregon State University researchers highlighted the ways motor skills and cognitive skills develop in connection with each other in young children with autism, and found an opportunity for behavioral and physical therapists to work together to improve care.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Military veterans’ individual perceptions of their combat experiences and the social supports they receive when they return home are greater predictors of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms than the specific conflict in which they served, a new Oregon State University study found.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — College students who identify as part of minoritized groups have more negative perceptions about how their peers might react if they were to disclose experiences of sexual violence, a recent Oregon State University study found.

Researchers say the results indicate a need for colleges and universities to take a more intersectional approach — considering the ways students’ racial, gender and sexual identities may overlap and affect their experience — in their efforts to provide safe environments for victims of sexual violence.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is approving more novel pharmaceutical drugs based on single clinical trials and with less public disclosure about those trials than was the norm just a few years ago, a pair of recent studies from Oregon State University found.

Researchers agree it is important to minimize delays in making treatments for diseases such as cancer available to patients, but they say their findings point to a need for greater transparency around how drugs receive approval.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Available child care slots for young children in Oregon grew by almost 5% from March 2020 to December 2022, thanks in part to increased public funding for child care, a new report from Oregon State University found.

In total, OSU researchers tallied 71,153 child care slots for ages 0-5 in 2022, up from 67,981 in 2020. But there is still work to pursue to increase child care throughout the state, state officials say.

CORVALLIS, Ore. — Dungeness crab fishermen are at high risk for on-the-job injury, but having a metal bar to bang crab pots against as they harvest can help them prevent injury, an Oregon State University study found.