About

Kaitlyn Berry, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Division of Epidemiology & Community Health Education at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. Her research as a social epidemiologist and population health scientist employs advanced quantitative methods, interdisciplinary perspectives, and novel data combinations to investigate how place-based factors influence health and health inequities. Her primary research focuses include improving estimates of homeless mortality rates across the U.S. and understanding how local policies impact mortality among the unhoused population, evaluating the health effects of policies affecting individuals with criminal records, and modeling the sociodemographic and spatial patterns of mortality before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research topics

• Environmental health
• Medicine
• Internal medicine
• Physical therapy
• Pharmacology
• Demography

Selected publications

• Mortality Trends Among Early Adults in the United States, 1999-2023

  JAMA Network Open · 2025-01-31 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access

  This cross-sectional study examines trends in mortality rates among adults aged 25 to 44 years across the pre–COVID-19 pandemic, pandemic, and postpandemic periods.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Disparities in All-Cause Mortality Beyond the Acute Phase of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the US

  JAMA Network Open · 2024-02-20 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st author

  This cross-sectional study examines all-cause mortality in the US between March 2018 and May 2023 by sex, race and ethnicity, metropolitan status, and region.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• SNAP Emergency Allotments, Emergency Rent Assistance, Rent Burden, and Housing and Food Security, June 2022–May 2023

  Preventing Chronic Disease · 2024-08-29 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Introduction: During the COVID-19 pandemic, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) emergency allotments and emergency rent assistance provided support to low-income households. Rent burden, a form of housing insecurity, can severely limit household resources, which, in turn, affects health equity. We explored whether these policy interventions equitably supported households that were or were not experiencing rent burden. Methods: We used data from the US Household Pulse Survey (June 2022-May 2023) to examine whether associations between emergency support policies and indicators of food and housing security differed according to household rent burden status. We modeled each outcome (food sufficiency or being current on rent) as a function of policy exposure (SNAP emergency allotments or emergency rent assistance), rent burden, and their interaction. We included demographic characteristics, state of residence, and survey cycle as covariates. We modeled each outcome and policy exposure combination separately. Results: Receiving emergency allotments (72.4% vs 67.2% for SNAP participants in states with and without emergency allotments, respectively) and emergency rent assistance (64.5% vs 57.6% for households that received and were waitlisted/denied assistance, respectively) were associated with greater food sufficiency. The relationship between emergency allotments and food sufficiency was stronger in rent-burdened households; however, emergency rent assistance supported food sufficiency to a greater extent in non-rent-burdened households. Emergency rent assistance supported households in being current on rent (78.7% vs 56.4% for households that received and were waitlisted/denied assistance, respectively) and supported being current on rent to a greater extent in non-rent-burdened households than in rent-burdened households. Conclusion: The relationship between emergency support policies and food or housing security differed according to whether households were experiencing rent burden. Associations were sometimes stronger in less economically constrained conditions. These results indicate an opportunity to better design policies to support low-income households, address food and housing security, and ultimately decrease the prevalence of chronic disease.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Food security among SNAP participants 2019 to 2021: a cross-sectional analysis of current population survey food security supplement data

  Journal of Nutritional Science · 2023-01-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access

  Surveillance data indicate that food security rates increased among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020 and 2021) compared with pre-pandemic (2019), but this could have been due to increased participation from better resourced households. Our objective was to examine if demographic differences between SNAP-participating households in each year were responsible for the increased prevalence of food secure households. We calculated the observed 30-d food security prevalence among SNAP-participating households for each year. We used indirect standardisation to produce expected 2020 and 2021 prevalences with 2019 as the standard population using household size, income, age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, presence of children, single parent household, metropolitan status and census region. We calculated standardised prevalence ratios (SPRs) to understand if the observed prevalence was higher than expected given any changes in the demographic profile compared to 2019. The Current Population Survey data were collected by the United States Census Bureau and Department of Agriculture. Our sample included 5,245 SNAP-participating households. The observed prevalence of food secure households increased by 3⋅6 percentage points comparing 2019 to 2020 (SPR = 1⋅06, 95 % confidence interval = 1⋅00, 1⋅11) and by 8⋅6 percentage comparing 2019 to 2021 (SPR = 1⋅13, 95 % confidence interval = 1⋅07, 1⋅18). The greater prevalence of food secure SNAP households during the pandemic did not appear to be attributable to socio-demographic differences compared to pre-pandemic. Despite hesitance among policymakers to expand or enhance social safety net programmes, permanently incorporating COVID-19-related policy interventions could lessen food insecurity in years to come.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Impact of smoking cessation on household food security

  Annals of Epidemiology · 2023-01-16 · 12 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• COVID-19 Vaccination and Racial/Ethnic Inequities in Mortality at Midlife in Minnesota

  American Journal of Preventive Medicine · 2022-11-01 · 9 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Race-Specific, State-Specific COVID-19 Vaccination Rates Adjusted for Age

  Socius Sociological Research for a Dynamic World · 2022-01-01 · 11 citations

  articleOpen access

  The authors provide the first age-standardized race/ethnicity-specific, state-specific vaccination rates for the United States. Data encompass all states reporting race/ethnicity-specific vaccinations and reflect vaccinations through mid-October 2021, just before eligibility expanded below age 12. Using indirect age standardization, the authors compare racial/ethnic state vaccination rates with national rates. The results show that white and Black state median vaccination rates are, respectively, 89 percent and 76 percent of what would be predicted on the basis of age; Hispanic and Native rates are almost identical to what would be predicted; and Asian American/Pacific Islander rates are 110 percent of what would be predicted. The authors also find that racial/ethnic vaccination rates are associated with state politics, as proxied by 2020 Trump vote share: for each percentage point increase in Trump vote share, vaccination rates decline by 1.08 percent of what would be predicted on the basis of age. This decline is sharpest for Native American vaccinations, although these are reported for relatively few states.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Use of the emergency food system among food insecure, low-income households in the United States 2015 to 2020

  Figshare · 2022-01-01

  datasetOpen access

  The emergency food system (EFS) is a critical part of the United States’ social safety net. Using 2015–2020 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data, we identified trends in EFS use among food insecure, low-income households by estimating the probability of EFS use adjusting for demographics using multivariable logistic regression. From 2015 to 2019, between 31.0% and 34.4% of households received emergency food, while 42.4% did in 2020. EFS use did not increase in 2020 compared to prior years for older adults and non-metropolitan households. Targeted outreach should be used to expand the reach of this resource to underserved and marginalized populations.”

  PublisherDOI

• Use of the emergency food system among food insecure, low-income households in the United States 2015 to 2020

  Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition · 2022-10-06 · 6 citations

  articleOpen access

  The emergency food system (EFS) is a critical part of the United States' social safety net. Using 2015-2020 Current Population Survey Food Security Supplement data, we identified trends in EFS use among food insecure, low-income households by estimating the probability of EFS use adjusting for demographics using multivariable logistic regression. From 2015-2019, between 31.0% and 34.4% of households received emergency food, while 42.4% did in 2020. EFS use did not increase in 2020 compared to prior years for older adults and non-metropolitan households. Targeted outreach should be used to expand the reach of this resource to underserved and marginalized populations."

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Association of Weight at Different Ages and All-Cause Mortality Among Older Adults in the US

  Journal of Aging and Health · 2022-02-26 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Objective: Assess the association of BMI and BMI change with mortality. Methods: Using data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS) on participants born mainly in 1939 ( n=4922), we investigated the associations between various measures of BMI across the life course (age 54 BMI; age 65 BMI; age 72 BMI; lifetime maximum BMI; BMI change between ages 54 and 65; BMI change between ages 65 and 72) and mortality. We also assessed whether these associations are mediated by late life health. Results: BMI at age 54 was more strongly associated with late life mortality than BMI at older ages. The association between BMI change and mortality varied based on the timing of weight change. Health at age 72, particularly self-rated health, diabetes, and physical functioning, mediated the observed associations. Conclusion: Knowing older people’s weight at midlife and how their weight has changed may be more important in assessing late life mortality risk than their current weight.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Andrew Stokes

  Boston University

  29 shared

• Rachel Widome

  Minnesota Department of Health

  27 shared

• Patrick Brady

  University of Minnesota

  17 shared

• Darin J. Erickson

  University of Minnesota

  12 shared

• Aaron T. Berger

  Minnesota Department of Health

  12 shared

• Kelsie M Full

  12 shared

• Susan Redline

  Massachusetts General Hospital

  12 shared

• Melissa N. Laska

  University of Minnesota

  12 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Public Health

  University of Minnesota

  2015

• Other, Public Health

  University of Minnesota

  2010

• B.A., Psychology

  University of California, Los Angeles

  2006

Awards & honors

• NIH Director's Early Independence Award for "Place-Based Inf…