Research Of How Socioeconomic Status Is A Fundamental Cause Of Disease

Socioeconomic status measures a person’s work experience and economic position and is indicated by the person’s income, education, and occupation. SES is a social determinant of health but also a fundamental cause of disease. Fundamental causes of diseases include multiple disease outcomes through multiple pathways, access to vital resources and even if the intervening mechanism changes the outcome will remain the same. Fundamental causes of disease are always UPSTREAM. SES brings control over various parts of your life such as where you choose to live and contributes to many health disparities that may occur during your life span. Health disparities are differences that are experienced by populations who are at a disadvantage which can occur within a disease, injury or violent situation. Poverty, environmental threats, inadequate access to health care, individual/behavioral factors and educational inequalities are all factors of health disparities. Your education is a part of SES, low education will lead you to have more health risks during your lifetime. African Americans with low education lead to developing health risks because you don’t have access to health care or health insurance and even if you may have access you are not being treated the same as others. As well as an African American person who has low SES would be more likely to be in poverty because they have no social networks to gain a stable income.

In class, Dr. Moloney presented a film called “Unnatural Causes in Sickness and Wealth: Is inequality making us sick?”, in this film many facts were given about socioeconomic status in Louisville, KY. College graduates have 2. 5 years of a longer life expectancy than high school graduates. Based on where someone lives, if they graduated high school, and their income can determine how long someone lives and their life expectancy which correlates to socioeconomic status. If you have a higher SES you have less stress, with less stress, you acquire a stronger immune system, which also requires fewer visits to hospitals. No matter your SES your health will always be worse than whites if you are African American. In an article that we have read during the semester called “The US Health Care System: On the road to nowhere?”, had presented many different statistics in the united states on health care. One statistic that caught my eye was that although we have Medicare and Medicaid only 40 percent of Medicaid goes to poor while leaving fourteen percent uninsured from any health coverage. He then concluded to say that even though there has been reform happening things still tend to stay the same and people remain uninsured. If people could help others no matter what SES you may be in the world would be a better place. Upstream factors lead to policy and programs, while downstream factors lead to a disease or injury. Upstream factors that influence the health status of an individual based on socioeconomic status are neglection from a parent at a young age, no education attainment, job status and legal discrimination. Downstream factors that influence the health status of an individual based on socioeconomic status are smoking, diet, exercise and health care insurance or access. Low SES leads to not attaining education, which leads to unemployment, which leads to low income, which leads to unhealthy eating habits, which leads to obesity, which leads to diabetes, which leads to unsuccessful health access/care, which leads to death. Low SES can also be on the same pathway as I previously stated but with a different outcome. Low SES leads to not attaining education, which leads to unemployment, which leads to low income, which leads to homelessness, which leads to alcohol abuse, which leads to heart disease. An intervention that could reduce health disparities within the low socioeconomic population would be to promote a career fair and create a company that goes out and potentially helps people get on the right track.

Also, I think that a policy or a law should be put in place stating that people cannot drop out of high school and are only allowed to under serious circumstances. If this was in place the rate of people who are uninsured for health care would continue to decrease because you can find a job and you would develop more social networks with a high school degree and be placed on a health insurance plan that is in your budget.