HLTH 315 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Boogie 2Nite, Relative Risk

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Health Studies
• Course: HLTH 315
• Professor: Madelaine Gierc

Document Summary

Mckinlay reading us public health and the 21st century: diabetes mellitus. Risk-factor epidemiology generally focuses on the somewhat isolated contribution of one factor, while overlooking competing influences from other levels of causality. How do we know how much any one factor contribute to the total explanation? illusion of progress. Biophysiological processes are important but so are individual characteristics and behaviors = also influenced by social hierarchy. Importance of (cid:862)upstrea(cid:373)(cid:863) approach to look at u(cid:374)derlyi(cid:374)g reaso(cid:374)s for social patter(cid:374)s of disease. Upstream/whole-population approaches may take away from relative risk. By selecting a particular issue for investigation, aspects that are important to public health and amenable to change are revealed. Tobacco epidemic initiated and sustained by strategies of the tobacco industry misled the public on the risks of smoking cigarettes. Although cigarette smoking has declined significantly, large disparities in tobacco use are still prevent across race, ethnicity, educational level, and socioeconomic status and across regions of the country.