This report describes a groundbreaking military-civilian collaboration that benefits from an Army and Department of Defense (DoD big data business intelligence platform called the Person-Event Data Environment (PDE). The PDE - a consolidated data repository that contains unclassified but sensitive manpower, training, financial, health, and medical records covering U.S.
An analysis of baseline examination data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Artherosclerosis was conducted in order to investigate predictors of cardiovascular health (CVH) - a global measure of one's burden of cardiovascular risk factors. Neighborhood environment - such as favorable food stores, physical activity resources, and walking/physical activity environment - and neighborhood socioeconomic status were found to be associated with ideal CVH.
In this study, researchers review seven types of evidence that shows high subjective well-being (SWB)--including life satisfaction, absence of negative emotions, optimism, and positive emotions--cause better health and longevity. Examples of each type of evidence are described, and issues such as causality, effect size, methodological rigor, whether too much happiness can be detrimental to health, and whether there is a threshold effect for SWB are discussed.