Dr Brian Houle
MPH (Public Health), PhD (Sociology)
Lecturer
ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences
Areas of expertise
- Mortality 160304
- Epidemiology 111706
- Demography 1603
- Applied Statistics 010401
Research interests
My main focus is in population health and disparities. I mainly research demographic-health outcomes in Africa, including:
- Maternal and child health
- Mortality patterns and inequalities
- Population health transitions and ageing
Other research interests include:
- Social determinants of health: obesity and smoking
- Methods: informed sampling and sample selection
Biography
Brian Houle from the University of Washington researches demographic-health outcomes in Africa and obesity in the U.S. He has examined the relationship between the timing of maternal and child death, the effects of household members and characteristics on child and adult mortality, and overall epidemiological patterns of mortality risk among adults. Further work analyzed multiple demographic surveillance sites to compare and contrast the epidemiological transitions occurring at each site. Work on disease prevalence assessed sample selection bias in HIV prevalence estimates from Demographic and Health Surveys. His research in the U.S. focuses on the social determinants and inequalities of obesity.
Researcher's projects
HIV after 40 in rural South Africa: Aging in the context of an HIV/AIDS epidemic. NIH R01.
- This project seeks to examine life course variation in HIV vulnerability.
Publications
- Rosenberg, M, Gomez-Olive, F, Rohr, J et al 2017, 'Sexual behaviors and HIV status: a population-based study among older adults in rural South Africa', Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 9-17pp.
- Kabudula, C, Houle, B, Collinson, M et al 2017, 'Progression of the epidemiological transition in a rural South African setting: findings from population surveillance in Agincourt, 1993-2013', BMC Public Health, vol. 17, no. 424, pp. 1-15pp.
- Mitchell, J, Rochat, T, Houle, B et al 2016, 'The effect of maternal and child early life factors on grade repetition among HIV exposed and unexposed children in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa', Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 185-196.
- Houle, B, Pantazis, A, Kabudula, C et al 2016, 'Social patterns and differentials in the fertility transition in the context of HIV/AIDS: Evidence from population surveillance, rural South Africa, 1993 - 2013', Population Health Metrics, vol. 14, no. 10.
- Bawah, A, Houle, B, Alam, N et al 2016, 'The evolving demographic and health transition in four low- and middle-income countries: Evidence from four sites in the INDEPTH Network of Longitudinal Health and Demographic Surveillance Systems', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. online 15 June.
- Rochat, T, Houle, B, Stein, A et al 2016, 'Exclusive breastfeeding and cognition, executive function, and behavioural disorders in primary school-aged children in rural South Africa: A cohort analysis', PLoS Medicine, vol. Published online: June 21 2016..
- Kabudula, C, Houle, B, Collinson, M et al 2016, 'Assessing changes in household socioeconomic status in rural South Africa, 2001 - 2013: A distributional analysis using household asset indicators', Social Indicators Research, vol. online 28 June 2016.
- Houle, B, Angotti, N, Clark, S et al 2016, 'Let's talk about sex, maybe: Interviewers, respondents, and sexual behavior reporting in rural South Africa', Field Methods, vol. 28, no. 2, pp. 112-132.
- Clark, S, Gomez-Olive, F, Houle, B et al 2015, 'Cardiometabolic disease risk and HIV status in rural South Africa: Establishing a baseline', BMC Public Health, vol. 15, no. 135, pp. 1-9.
- Houle, B, Clark, S, Kahn, K et al 2015, 'The impacts of maternal mortality and cause of death on children's risk of dying in rural South Africa: evidence from a population-based surveillance study (1992-2013)', Reproductive Health, vol. 12, no. Suppl 1, pp. S7.
- Clark, S & Houle, B 2014, 'Validation, replication, and sensitivity testing of Heckman-type selection models to adjust estimates of HIV prevalence', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 9, no. 11, pp. 1-9.
- Houle, B, Clark, S, Gomez-Olive, F et al 2014, 'The unfolding counter-transition in rural South Africa: Mortality and cause of death, 1994-2009', PLOS ONE (Public Library of Science), vol. 9, no. 6, pp. e100420.
- Houle, B 2014, 'The effect of incarceration on male BMI trajectories, USA, 1981-2006', Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21-28.
- Houle, B, Stein, A, Kahn, K et al 2013, 'Household context and child mortality in rural South Africa: The effects of birth spacing, shared mortality, household composition and socio-economic status', International Journal of Epidemiology, vol. 42, no. 5, pp. 1444-1454.
- Clark, S, Kahn, K, Houle, B et al 2013, 'Young children's probability of dying before and after their mother's death: A rural South African population-based surveillance study', PLoS Medicine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. e1001409.
- Gomez-Olive, F, Angotti, N, Houle, B et al 2013, 'Prevalence of HIV among those 15 and older in rural South Africa', AIDS Care - Psychological and Socio-Medical Aspects of AIDS/HIV, vol. 25, no. 9, pp. 1122-1128.
- Houle, B 2011, 'Obesity disparities among disadvantaged men: National adult male inmate prevalence pooled with non-incarcerated estimates, United States, 2002 - 2004', Social Science and Medicine, vol. 72, no. 10, pp. 1667-1673.
- Houle, B 2010, 'Measuring distributional inequality: Relative body mass index distributions by gender, race/ethnicity, and education, United States (1999-2006)', Journal of Obesity, vol. 2010, no. Article ID 959658, p. 12.
- Houle, B & Siegel, M 2009, 'Smoker-free workplace policies: Developing a model of public health consequences of workplace policies barring employment to smokers', Tobacco Control, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 64-69.
- Houle, B, Holt, J, Gillespie, C et al 2009, 'Use of density-equalizing cartograms to visualize trends and disparities in state-specific prevalence of obesity: 1996-2006', American Journal of Public Health, vol. 99, no. 2, pp. 308-312.
- Katz, N, Houle, B, Fernandez, K et al 2008, 'Update on prescription monitoring in clinical practice: A survey study of prescription monitoring program administrators', Pain Medicine, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 587-94.
- Cousineau, T, Houle, B, Bromberg, J et al 2008, 'A pilot study of an online workplace nutrition program: The value of participant input in program development', Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 160-167.
- Butler, S, Budman, S, Fernandez, K et al 2007, 'Development and validation of the Current Opioid Misuse Measure', Pain, vol. 130, no. 1-2, pp. 144-156.
- Butler, S, Venuti, S, Benoit, C et al 2007, 'Internet surveillance: Content analysis and monitoring of product-specific internet prescription opioid abuse-related postings', Clinical Journal of Pain, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 619-628.
