Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39218438›Full record

ArticleAmerican journal of epidemiology2025

Methodological approaches to structural change: epidemiology and the case for reparations.

Jourdyn A Lawrence, Joy Shi, Jaquelyn L Jahn, Kathryn E W Himmelstein, Justin M Feldman, Mary T Bassett

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in American journal of epidemiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Race, wealth and health: The role of reparations.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Jourdyn A LawrenceDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.ORCID 0000-0003-4162-9860
Joy ShiDepartment of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States.
Jaquelyn L JahnDepartment of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Kathryn E W HimmelsteinDepartment of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, United States.
Justin M FeldmanFrançois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States.
Mary T BassettFrançois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, United States.

Funding

PROGRAM FOR AIDS CLINICAL RESEARCH TRAINING (PACRT)T32AI007433 · NIAID · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · PI MARK J SIEDNER · 1992 to 2026
$11.4M
NIAID NIH HHS T32 AI007433NIH HHS T32AI007433Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Scholars, activists, and policymakers have long called for reparations-a process of repair and restitution for harm and injustices done-to descendants of enslaved Africans in the United States as a structural intervention to address historic and ongoing injustices. However, there has been very limited epidemiologic work examining reparations. We explore some of the epidemiologic benefits and challenges of using causal inference frameworks to model reparations as an example of a large-scale, structural intervention that pushes the limits of what is considered "well-defined" and may violate key identification assumptions. Finally, we weigh these methodological limitations with the utility of assessing public health implications of reparations policies and conclude by discussing implications for future epidemiologic research. This article is part of a Special Collection on Methods in Social Epidemiology.

Indexed as

Black or African AmericanEpidemiologic MethodsCausalityEpidemiologyHumansPublic HealthUnited Statesquantitative methodsracial health equityreparationssocial epidemiologywealth

Identifiers

PMID39218438
PMCPMC12055461

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.