BIOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH Flashcards
Web of caution:
the complexity of influences on health
The additive model:GENE ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION PATTERN
is the simplest, based on the assumption that for two individuals who have different genetics risk for disease, the risk for both increase proportionally as they go from a protective to a high risk- environment. (Low to high intake of smoked and pickled foods)
The multiplicative model:GENE ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION PATTERN
is based on differential response between individuals such that a diet of smoked a pickled food greatly increases the risk of stomach cancer in the genetically predisposed person but barely alters the risk in genetically resistant person.
The multiplicative model is the more common model in human gene-environment interactions.
KEY TERMS
Age: is the most potent determinant of specific risk factors
Race: interrelationship between the genetics and cultural inheritances of disease risk(or resilience)
Ethnicity: social, cultural and economic factors
Sex & Gender:
GENDER, is socially constructed, whilst SEX is biologically constructed
Women tent to suffer from osteoporosis more than men because after high school men are more likely to take on physical activity.
HEGEMONIC MASCULINITY
Refers to the idea that a culturally normative ideal of male behaviour exists (which men are strongly encouraged to adopt). Adopting or ‘buying into’ this model can be counter-productive – i.e. increases in risk-taking behaviour. Feminist & masculinity discourses abound in gender studies H
Genotype: determines race
the biological expression at the molecular
level (the blueprint for the physical manifestation)
Genetic predisposition to illnesses e.g. sickle cell
Phenotype:Determines race
the physical expression. Body structure and composition
influences health risks and outcomes – e.g. bone structure, tissue distribution, etc.
phenotypic features such as stature, fatness, and skin colour are often markers of the interactions between genes behaviours and environments.
MULTI-GENE DISEASES
CVD, diabetes, some cancers, arthritis & mental illness Dozens or hundreds of key genes determine the genetic contribution to such diseases Multiplicative model: high-risk environment eg obesity in an ‘obesogenic’ environment.
Non-modifiable Determinants
Genetically inherited e.g. age, sex, race, family history
Modifiable Determinants
May be altered through environmental influence
THE GENE-ENVIRONMENT INTERACTION
Genes vs Environment
1. Genes & environment jointly influence health
2. Genetic influences may play out differently under different conditions
Thus, biological outcomes can be influenced by modifications in the environment!
One conceptual framework for the biological determinants
Genes:
External agency: how the external environment impact on us
Internal agency :
ageing:
Biological determinants
wide range of heterodeneous, intra-individual factor that drive, mediate,or moderate the pathways towards health or disease.