2 - Influences on Health Flashcards
(12 cards)
What are some of the influences on health?
Health care(access, affordability, quality, R&D), environmental factors(air quality/pollution, climate/weather, sanitation, green space/housing), societal factors, individual socioeconomic factors(wealth, income, education etc), behavioural factors(smoking, exercise etc), individual factors(age, gender, genetics etc)
What are some conceptual models of the influences on health?
Social science approach, medical science approach, Dahlgren and Whitehead model
Describe the social science approach.
Socioeconomic determinants → ? → mortality
Describe the medical science approach.
? → (environmental control) → environmental contamination/dietary intake → (personal preventive measures) → disease/infection/malnutrition → (therapeautic medical technology) → mortality
Descrbie the Dahlgren and Whitehead model(1991).
There are various spheres of influence on health, such as general socio-economic, cultural and environmental conditions, living and working conditions, social and community networks, individual lifestyle factors and age, sex and constitutional factors.
What is a criticism of social determinant models?
They tend to downplay the role of medical services.
What are variations in health driven by?
Exposure, vulnerability, consequences
What are some sex determinants of health?
Women live longer than men(3-5 years) - this is partially due to improvements in childbirth healthcare as well about 1-2 years of life expectancy at birth being influenced by biological healthcare, therefore the main determinants are male lifestyle factors e.g. risk-taking behaviour, health-seeking behaviour, work-related hazards, smoking
What are some models of changes in health over time and place?
DTM(Demographic Transition Model), Epidemiologic Transition Model(Omran, 1971), Health transition model(Frenk et al., 1991)
Describe the DTM.
There are 4 stages of development - throughout these stages, the population increases continuously. Stage 1(pre-industrial age): both birth and death rates are very high, Stage 2(mechanisation of agriculture/urbanisation): death rate falls while birth rate remains high, Stage 3(mature industrial age): birth rate falls while death rate remains low, Stage 4(post-industrial age): birth and death rate are both quite low.
Describe the epidemiologic transition model.
Age of pestilence and famine: greatest cause of death is infections/diarrhea with maternal/infant deaths being second - high mortality, low life expectancy(20-40 years), no population growth
Age of receding pandemics: infectious diseases still large proportion however other causes largest proportion, mortality progressively declines, life expectancy medium(30-50 years), sustained population growth
20th century London(age of degenerative and man-made diseases): heart disease becomes greatest proportion of death with cancer also increasing, mortality continues to decline and approaches stability, life expectancy >50 years, fertility becomes crucial factor in population growth
What are some mechanisms of change on the influences on health?
Fertility decline and consequent population ageing, changes in risk factors – biological, environmental, occupational, social and behavioural, improvement in case-fatality rates(therapeutic and preventive interventions)
