factors that influenced medicine

• lifestyle factors:

  • poor lifestyle factors lead to health problems
  • lifestyle factors:
  • poor diet
  • lack of exercise
  • smoking
  • stress
  • drinking alcohol
• government:

  • government used to have laissez faire attitude to health
  • now, government increased involvement
  • government have responsibility to:
  • fund medical research
  • educate people about dangers to health
  • pass laws to help prevent disease
• advances in science:

  • advances such as discovery of DNA led to more understanding on causes of disease
  • now accepted that germs cause illness
  • by end of 20th century, understanding of hereditary conditions
  • Down's syndrome - understood by 1958
  • cystic fibrosis - understood by 1989
  • sick cell anaemia - understood by 1940s
• developments in technology:

  • led to advances in diagnosis and treatment of disease after 1900
  • medicines can be mass produced to have widespread effect
  • machines more commonly used in hospitals e.g X Rays, CT scans