Population health

Income inequality and mortality in 282 metropolitan areas of the United States. Mortality is correlated with both income and inequality.

Population health has been defined as "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group".[1] It is an approach to health that aims to improve the health of an entire human population. It has been described as consisting of three components. These are "health outcomes, patterns of health determinants, and policies and interventions".[1]

A priority considered important in achieving the aim of population health is to reduce health inequities or disparities among different population groups due to, among other factors, the social determinants of health (SDOH). The SDOH include all the factors (social, environmental, cultural and physical) that the different populations are born into, grow up, and function with throughout their lifetimes which potentially have a measurable impact on the health of human populations.[2] The population health concept represents a change in the focus from the individual-level, characteristic of most mainstream medicine. It also seeks to complement the classic efforts of public health agencies by addressing a broader range of factors shown to impact the health of different populations. The World Health Organization's Commission on Social Determinants of Health reported in 2008 that the SDOH factors were responsible for the bulk of diseases and injuries, and that these were the major causes of health inequities in all countries.[3] In the US, SDOH were estimated to account for 70% of avoidable mortality.[4]

From a population health perspective, health has been defined not simply as a state free from disease but as "the capacity of people to adapt to, respond to, or control life's challenges and changes".[5] The World Health Organization (WHO) defined health in its broader sense in 1946 as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."[6][7]

  1. ^ a b Kindig D, Stoddart G (March 2003). "What is population health?". American Journal of Public Health. 93 (3): 380–3. doi:10.2105/ajph.93.3.380. PMC 1447747. PMID 12604476.
  2. ^ Social Determinants of Health overview tab.
  3. ^ Meeting Report of World Conference of Social Determinants of Health held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2008.
  4. ^ McGinnis JM, Williams-Russo P, Knickman JR (2002). "The case for more active policy attention to health promotion". Health Aff (Millwood). 21 (2): 78–93. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.21.2.78. PMID 11900188.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link). See also National Academies Press free publication: The Future of Public Health in the 21st Century.
  5. ^ Frankish, CJ et al. "Health Impact Assessment as a Tool for Population Health Promotion and Public Policy" Archived 8 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Vancouver: Institute of Health Promotion Research, University of British Columbia, 1996. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
  6. ^ World Health Organization. WHO definition of Health, Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19–22 June 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948. In Grad, Frank P. (2002). "The Preamble of the Constitution of the World Health Organization". Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 80 (12): 982. PMC 2567708. PMID 12571728.
  7. ^ World Health Organization. 2006. Constitution of the World Health OrganizationBasic Documents, Forty-fifth edition, Supplement, October 2006.

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