Epidemiology and the Macrosocial Determinants of Health
Sara Putnam1 and Sandro Galea1,2,3
1Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies,
2Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health, Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
3Department of Epidemiology,
Journal of Public Health Policy (2008) 29, 275–289. doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.15
Abstract: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jphp/journal/v29/n3/abs/jphp200815a.html
“….In the past two decades, public health researchers have taken renewed interest in investigating the role of social factors in health. This holds substantial promise in terms of identifying manipulable social factors that are amenable to policy intervention. Most existing empirical and conceptual epidemiologic work, however, has focused on the more proximal social determinants, such as interpersonal relations.
These factors, although perhaps easier to study epidemiologically, are much less relevant to policy makers than more "macrosocial" factors such as taxation policies. Limited epidemiologic attention to macrosocial determinants of health is ironic given that macrosocial factors such as the rapid industrialization and urbanization in the 19th century contributed to the organization of public health practice and, tangentially, to academic public health research.
We suggest here that greater investment in the study of macrosocial determinants has the potential to make a significant and unique contribution to the greater public health agenda and should be a prominent aspect of social epidemiologic inquiry in the coming decades…..”
Commentary: Population-level Risk Factors, Population Health, and Health Policy
This commentary urges attention to population-level factors that affect health, adding a practical element to the article on macrosocial determinants of health.
Elena N Naumova and Steven A Cohen
J Public Health Pol 29: 290-298; doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.21 - Abstract
Commentary: Macrosocial Determinants, Epidemiology, and Health Policy: should politics and economics be banned from social determinants of health research?
After considering the reasons that epidemiologists have restricted their studies, these authors find reason for optimism in the new interest in macrosocial factors.
Carles Muntaner and Haejoo Chung
J Public Health Pol 29: 299-306; doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.23 - Abstract
Population Health and the Hardcore Smoker: Geoffrey Rose Revisited
Challenging the "hardening hypothesis," these Canadian authors note that Geoffrey Rose's model predicts that the effect of policy interventions, and changes in social norms, will shift the population-level risk distribution for continuing to smoke, making it more likely that all smokers will quit.
Michael O Chaiton, Joanna E Cohen and John Frank
J Public Health Pol 29: 307-318; doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.14 - Abstract
Clustering Countries to Evaluate Health Outcomes Globally
Country clusters can and should be used to study societal conditions that contribute to changes in health outcomes over time.
Sue Thomas Hegyvary, Devon M
J Public Health Pol 29: 319-339; doi:10.1057/jphp.2008.13 - Abstract
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