Socioeconomic Status And Heart Disease Essay

The term social determinants of health, can be defined as a ‘set of conditions in which people are born, grow up, live and work.’ These conditions include housing, education, financial security and the environment along with the healthcare service. (http://www.rcn.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/438838/01.12_Health_inequalities_and_the_social_determinants_of_health.pdf) These factors are affected by the amount of money, power and resources that are available at a global, national and local level. Social determinants of health are linked to health inequalities according to the World Health Organisation, health inequalities are ‘the unfair and avoidable differences in health status seen within and between countries.’

Living in underprivileged neighborhoods creates a lot of stress on community members that predispose them to contracting diseases. Epidemiologist, Ana Diez-Roux, states that people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods have a 50% to 80% increased risk of developing heart disease. An improvement of health policies is required to for disadvantaged neighborhoods to

Introduction People hope and seeks long and healthier lives. Thus, health care is the act of taking preventative or necessary medical procedures to improve people well-being. Improvement or preventative may be done with surgery, the administering of medicine, or other alterations in a person 's lifestyle. These services are usually offered through a health care system made up of hospitals and physicians. Although, the health care system is set up to reduce or to prevent disease etc., there is a gap or disparity in the US health care system.

The lecture, led by Dr. Christian Dimaano, discussed a variety of health disparities and then went into an in depth look at Henrietta Lacks, and the use of her cells in scientific research. He described health disparities as the differences of health problems between races, lifestyles, and mental processes. This was a very interesting topic for me, as a nursing major, I hadn’t really thought about health disparities before, so it was interesting to think about all of the potentially higher health risks that can occur simply because a patients race, or mental state. He also discussed the social determinants of heath and how things like your physical environment, economic stability, social community, and education can all influence your health. Dr. Dimaano also talked about how social determinants of health are health problems that you had no choice in, they are developed by factors such as sex, age, genes, medical care, and individual behaviors such as work and home life.

Every racial/ethnic group has better health disparities than others, but African American are more likely to be affect by health disparities. African

Before we look at the different Social/Psychological Determinants of Health it is important firstly to define what a social determinant of health is. According to the World Health Organization (2017) “The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age.” These conditions are as a result of a wide range of factors that are ultimately governed by the way in which money, power and specific resources are shared at different levels including those at global, national and local levels. We have all been a part of and will experience different social determinants of health throughout our lives but it is the standard at which we experience these determinants that will ultimately lead onto them affecting our health or ultimately leaving us unaffected. The Social Determinants of Health which I am going to examine include • Education • Unemployment • Stress • Living Conditions • Cultural Norms.

CONCLUSION Social determinants of health are the living conditions of people that affect their health. These factors may be environment, education, housing, income and others which affect the basic functions, health and well-being. Among all the economic, social and physical factors that are referred to as SDOH, the factors of housing, income and environment are considered to have major impact in affecting the health of people since they are the fundamental requirements for any human being. Housing and environment affects heart and respiratory functions where income levels are reason for infant and maternal

Social Determinants of Health Shelly Clavis Rutgers University School of Nursing  Social Determinants of Health Defined Health concerns is an issue that most organizations have formed a pact to safely deal with the challenge. The main agenda focuses on the eradication of health inequalities that may exist in most countries. It is best suited that social determinants are accorded the much-needed attention since they affect a number of people. In assessing the factors that affect one’s health, genetic disposition, personal behaviors, ability to obtain healthcare and the overall environment in which an individual resides are to be considered. Social determinants of Health are issues that deals with the conditions that people have found constructed in a society and acts as a parcel in their lives, such as; growth, age and some of the more complex systems that construct a society which include economic policies and their systems that include social norms, development goals and the basic political system that they are indulged under (World Health Organization, 2008).

1. Even with our medical advances, the United States ranks 29th because of lack of health care for some individuals but also the lifestyle Americans have. Another reason is that class statuses correspond with our health outcomes. What I meant about this, is that lower and middle class individuals are exposed to more health threats than higher class. This is the connections between healthy bodies and healthy bank accounts and race/ethnicity.

Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Healthy People (2015), these factors underlie preventable disparities in health status and disease outcomes. Poor health outcomes are often the result of the interaction between individuals and their social and physical environment. Policies that result in changes to the social and physical environment can affect entire populations over extended periods of time, while simultaneously helping people to change individual-level behavior. Improving the conditions in which people are born, live, work, and age will ensure a healthier population, thereby improving national productivity, security, and prosperity through a healthier nation. The importance of social determinants of health is growing initiatives to address these determinants of health.

Health inequalities are a result of unequal exposure to risk factors associated with socio-economic inequalities, such as social, economic and environmental conditions (Thomson, Bambra, McNamara, Huijts, & Todd, 2016). These inequalities in health, between people belonging to different socio-economic groups, were firstly recognized in the Nineteenth century, when public health figures in different European countries dedicated their studies to these issues (Mackenbach, 2006). Villermé (1782-1863), conducted a study in Paris, and showed districts with lower socio-economic statuses had higher mortality rates compared to neighborhoods with a higher socio-economic status, and came to the conclusion that life and death are related to social circumstances

The impact that residential segregation and health disparities among African Americans have is minorities become sicker and die more often because they lack medical insurance or have unhealthy lifestyles. Minorities receive unequal treatment from the medical system, regardless of economic status and insurance coverage. These researchers say segregation’s negative impact on health is true particularly for African-Americans, who studies consistently show are most likely to live apart from other racial-ethnic groups. Blacks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, have the highest overall death rate in the country. The rate of high blood pressure among African-Americans is highest not just in the nation, but also in the world, the American Heart Association reports, as is the percentage of black men who contract prostate

The Biopsychosocial model (Suls & Rothman, 2004) is one of the earliest multi-dimensional models of the health field. This model demonstrates the interaction between biological and social factors in regard to disease analysis. It displays levels above and below a person arranged from global systems at the top and genetic systems at the bottom. In the Social and Behavioral Foundations of Public Health, Coreil (2010) describes how the biopsychosocial is more concerned with the biological systems within the human body and pays greater attention to this interplay. In the case study, Cockerham (2013) details how social conditions act as the ultimate causes of diabetes and diabetes related fatalities in the community of East Harlem.

The hierarchy is divided into categories of upper, middle and lower class. These categories can be sub-divided into more groups, for example lower- middle class, etc. An individual’s socioeconomic status can depend on many different combinations of income, education, rank, race and ethnicity, and more. Everything related to socioeconomic status can be strongly related to an individual’s health and there have been many studies comparing these two.

Introduction Health is an important element throughout our life. A person’s health can be affected by many social factors such as gender roles and economic positions. As there are differences in health status between different populations groups, health inequality is then formed, for example, differences in morbidity and mortality rates between people from different social classes. In my essay, I will first define the meaning of ‘health’ from different perspectives. Then, I will talk about how social factors such as gender roles and economic positions determine a person’s health.