Lectures 7&8 - Disease prevention part 1 Flashcards
what is the WHO definition of health?
a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
what is the definition of public health?
the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through organised efforts of society
what are the 3 main domains of public health?
1) health improvement/promotion
2) health protection - focused on infectious diseases and emerging hazards
3) health services/health care
life expectancy is an indicator of health. what factors effect life expectancy?
- geopolitics
- health care provision
- innovation
- economic development
what factors effect likelihood of smoking?
- deprivation
- education
- ethnicity
- obesity
what factors effect likelihood of drinking?
- age - young people are less likely to consume the same amount of alcohol in a week than older people, but are more likely to exceed the weekly recommended limit in a day
- as household income increases the amount of alcohol consumed is likely to increase
what are the differences between upstream determinants and downstream determinants?
- upstream determinants involve life circumstances on a macro level (e.g. housing, education)
- downstream determinants involve risk factors on a micro level (e.g. ethnicity, gender, alcohol consumption, genetics, obesity, stress)
what are the 3 causes of health inequalities?
- upstream determinants - financial status, employment, work environment, education, housing
- lifestyle factors - smoking, BP, alcohol, cholesterol, BMI
- health services - primary and secondary care, preventative care, community services
what is health promotion?
the process of enabling people to increase control over, and to improve their health. it involves changing actions towards social, economic and environmental conditions to alleviate their impact on public and individual health.
what does health promotion involve?
- clinical intervention - biomedical screening/ immunisation
- health education - smoking cessation, healthy eating, exercise promotion
- healthy public policy - legal, fiscal and social measures to make healthy choices easier (e.g. sugar tax), sustainable policies and opportunities that enable equality for health and well-being
- community development - groups with their own agendas, partnerships with public, private, non-governmental and international organisations
what does the Health Promotion Tannahill Model involve?
overlap of protection (legal, fiscal, social measures), prevention (medical interventions) and education methods
what are the 4 levels of prevention?
1) primordial prevention
2) primary prevention
3) secondary prevention
4) tertiary prevention
what is primordial prevention?
prevention of factors promoting the emergence of lifestyles, behaviours and exposure patterns which contribute to increased risk of disease
what is primary prevention?
actions to prevent the onset of disease, by limiting exposures to risk factors by individual/communal behaviour change (E.g. vaccination)
what is secondary prevention?
halting the progression of an illness once it has already established. early detection followed by prompt, effective treatment.
what is tertiary prevention?
rehabilitation of people with established disease to minimise residual disability and complications. aims to improve quality of life.
what are the 2 main approaches to disease prevention?
1) high risk - identifying those in special need, then controlling exposure or providing protection against effect of exposure
2) population - recognition that the occurrence of common diseases and exposures reflects the behaviour and circumstances of society as a whole
what is the prevention paradox?
many people exposed to a small risk may generate more disease than a few people exposed to a large risk
what are the strengths of a high risk approach?
- effective due to high motivation of individual and clinician
- efficient
- benefit:risk ratio is favourable
- appropriate to individual
- easy to evaluate
what are the weaknesses of a high risk approach?
- palliative and temporary (misses a large amount of disease)
- risk prediction may not be accurate
- limited potential
- hard to change individual’s behaviour