Southern Community Cohort Study

August 7, 2025

Healthy plant-based diets reduce risk of death in long-term VUMC study

The findings published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggest that efforts to promote diets high in healthy plant foods and low in animal foods could improve health outcomes.

By Guillermo Sanchez, PhD
July 29, 2025

A fast daily walk could extend your life: study

Just 15 minutes per day of fast walking reduced the risk of premature death in a low-income and predominantly Black U.S. population.

By Leigh MacMillan
(Canva)
August 6, 2024

Guide to a healthier, longer life: Get up and get moving

In a study of predominantly low-income and Black Americans ages 65 and older, the researchers found that those with the longest “sitting time” — more than 10 hours a day — had the highest mortality risk.

By Bill Snyder
(iStock)
July 18, 2024

Unhealthy sleep linked to diabetes across several populations

Persistently unhealthy sleep, either not enough or too much, is associated with a significantly increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in a racially and economically varied adult population, an international team of researchers has reported.

By Bill Snyder
(iStock image)
May 1, 2024

Poverty tops smoking as a major death risk: study

A Vanderbilt study found that Black and white people who earned less than $15,000 a year died, on average, more than 10 years earlier than those whose annual income exceeded $50,000.

By Bill Snyder
(iStock image)
April 3, 2024

Excess salt linked to heart disease deaths in low-income group: study

Excessive consumption of dietary sodium likely was responsible for up to 30% of cardiovascular disease-related deaths among mostly low-income participants in a large cohort study conducted by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

By Bill Snyder
January 25, 2023

Study finds heart failure risk higher in rural areas

A study co-led by Vanderbilt researchers found heart failure risk is 19% higher for adults living in rural areas of the U.S., as compared to urban areas, and 34% higher for Black men living in rural areas.
By Craig Boerner
January 9, 2023

Novel lung cancer biomarker

Autoantibodies against the p53 tumor suppressor protein may be a novel biomarker for identifying people, especially African Americans, at high risk for lung cancer.
By Leigh MacMillan
August 1, 2022

H. pylori and lung cancer

Specific biomarkers for H. pylori — a bacterium that infects the stomach — were associated with increased risk of lung cancer, Vanderbilt researchers have discovered.
By Leigh MacMillan
December 13, 2021

Oral microbes and gastric cancer

Studies in three large population cohorts that include Asian, African American and European American people support a role for the oral microbiota — the collection of microbial species in the mouth — in gastric cancer development.
By Leigh MacMillan
October 21, 2021

Study to evaluate how environment impacts cancer risk

Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center is leading an ambitious project to assess the impact of environmental exposures on cancer risk for people living in Southern states.
By Tom Wilemon
May 20, 2021

William and Frances Blot deed home to VUMC to benefit cancer patients

Their condominium in The Westbury was at the heart of all that William and Frances Blot loved about Nashville — its proximity to Vanderbilt where he worked for two decades, its sidewalk that led to the greenspaces where they would watch the seasons change, and its residents who became more like friends than neighbors.
By Tom Wilemon
March 25, 2021

Spirituality may help reduce end-stage kidney disease risk

Researchers from Vanderbilt’s Division of Nephrology and Hypertension have identified an under-studied characteristic that may have a protective effect on end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) risk among vulnerable populations.
By Emily Stembridge