Lecture 2 - Pop Health Flashcards
What is Epidemiology?
The study of distribution and determinants of health and disease in populations (just getting the stats together and getting the causes/associations)
What is Population Health?
The health outcomes of a group of individuals including the distribution of such outcomes within a group (actually doing something about it - taking measures to improve health of population)
What are the two important patterns of health distribution in NZ?
- Ethnicity
2. Socioeconomic Status
Does SES show all reasons why there are health differences in health of Maori and Non-Maori?
No.
Measuring SES:
1. How do you measure it? What aspects can you look at?
- There five things:
- Occupation; non workers? Classification of jobs? People changing occupations? (These can influence information trying to capture)
- Income; gross or not income? Individual or household? (If household, how many are relying on it)
- Education; highest qualification? It’s easy to remember. Relatively stable (people don’t go get Phds all the time)
- Living standard measures; economic living standard index or survey, range of aspects
Deprivation; NZiDep {individual based} or NZDep {area based}
NZ Dep - deprivation index
- What is it?
- Areas of how many people?
- Deciles
- Who does this apply to?
- How is it determined?
- Considers what?
- Can be determined by what one value?
- So what of the above are the advantages?
- Area based measure of deprivation
- Areas of around 100 people
- Deciles - 1 is least deprived and 10 is highest (so 10% of population in each decile even if population changes)
- Applies to everyone (e.g. not just workers)
- Determined by particular questions in census
- Considers range of aspects
- Address
- Number 4, 6 and 7
What’s absolute poverty?
“Income level below which a minimum nutritionally adequate diet plus essential non-food requirements is not affordable. The amount of income a person, family, or group needs to purchase an absolute amount of the basic necessities of life”
What’s relative poverty?
“The amount of income a person, family or group needs to purchase a relative amount of basic necessities of life, these basic necessities are identified relative to each society and economy”
NZDep continued
- What level does NZ Dep measure at?
- It incorporates a range of aspects but not….
- It’s not a….
- Measures relative…..
- Seems simple but there’s
- Measures at level of neighbourhood, not individual so not all 100 people that live there are going to have the same socioeconomic characteristics. So decile of the 100 same but every individual in that 100 is not the same
- It incorporates a range of aspects but not everything
- Not a label
- Measures relative socioeconomic deprivation
- There is complexity behind the measure
What is health?
State of complete physical, mental and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
Determinants of health
- What are social determinants of health?
- There are five layers - list them from inside going out
- They’re the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age
- Okay
Innermost: Age, sex, hereditary factors (can’t really change these)
2nd: Individual lifestyle factors (e.g. smoking, alcohol, diet, physical activity)
3rd: Social and community influence (what do others in the community/neighbourhood do? Makes it harder to quit smoking if others around you are smoking
4th: Living and working conditions (housing? employed? type of work? - poor quality of living can be bad for health or social stresses e.g. having high job demands but not being able to meet them)
5th: General socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions (socioeconomic factors at a national level? Air quality?) - public health tries to change this
What’s the role of the health system?
Give access to health care services because it’s important esp when ill health develops
