M6 M6 GENERAL CONCEPTS OF HEALTH AND DISEASES

• Health


  (Oxford English Dictionary definition) the state of being free from sickness, injury, disease, bodily conditions; something indicating good bodily condition
• Perspectives on defining health

  • Narrow perspective: health as the absence of disease or disability or biological dysfunction
  • Broader perspective: health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• Dimensions of health


  • Physical
  • Social
  • Intellectual
  • Emotional
  • Spiritual
  • Environmental
• Disease


  A pathological process, most often physical, sometimes undetermined in origin, where there is a deviation from a biological norm
• Illness


  The patient's experience of ill health, sometimes when no disease can be found
• Sickness


  The external and public mode of unhealth, a social role and status negotiated with society
• Levels of disease prevention

  • Primordial
  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary
• Primary prevention


  • Aims to prevent disease or injury before it ever occurs, through legislation, education, and immunization
• Secondary prevention


  • Aims to reduce the impact of a disease or injury that has already occurred, through early detection, treatment, and rehabilitation
• Tertiary prevention


  • Aims to soften the impact of an ongoing illness or injury that has lasting effects, through chronic disease management and vocational rehabilitation
• Health


  A state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity
• Wellness


  A multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being
• Intrinsic factors


  • Host
• Extrinsic factors


  • Environment
• Health determinants


  • Biological factors
  • Socio-economic factors
  • Lifestyle

  
• Intrinsic factors


  Man's innate life factors
• Intrinsic factors


  • Physical
  • Biological
  • Psychological
• Extrinsic factors


  Man's external environment
• Extrinsic factors


  • Causative
  • Contributory
  • Predictive
• Risk factors


  Attributes significantly associated with the development or acquisition of diseases
• Health dimensions


  • Physical health
  • Social health
  • Intellectual health
  • Emotional health
  • Spiritual health
  • Environmental health
  • Occupational health
  • Financial health
• Disease


  A pathological process that often stems from the biological and medical views
• Illness


  A feeling, an experience of unhealth which is entirely personal, interior to the individual
• Sickness


  The external and public mode of unhealth
• Triad of epidemiology


  • Agents
  • Hosts
  • Environment
• Epidemiology


  1. Studies the causes and effects of health-related events as they occur in populations

  2. Diseases occur when there is an interaction between different factors
• Stages of disease


  • Pre-pathogenesis
  • Pathogenesis
  • Effect neutralized
  • Strong immunity
  • Ineffective agent
  • Unsuitable environment
  • Sickness
  • Signs and symptoms
  • Illness
  • Recovery
  • Disability
  • Chronic stage
  • Death
• Levels of prevention


  • Primordial
  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Tertiary
• Health indicators


  Measures used to assess the health status of a community
• Purposes of health indicators

  • For the assessment of healthcare needs
  • For the allocation of resources
  • For the monitoring and evaluation of health services
• Characteristics of good health indicators

  • Defined in a way that can be measured uniformly internationally
  • Have statistical validity
  • Feasible to collect data in a reasonable amount of time
  • Analysis results in recommendations for improving health
• Types of health data

  • Population data
  • Vital statistics
  • Risk factors
  • Health statistics
  • Health services statistics
  • Data on social inequalities in health
• Morbidity


  The number of susceptible people in a population that have the disease during a specific period of time, usually expressed as a rate
• Mortality


  The number of deaths due to a particular disease in a population over time
• Incidence


  The number of new cases of a disease during a specific time period
• Prevalence


  The total number of both new and existing cases in a population over time
• Disease frequency


  The proportion of the number of people affected by the disease to the population size, over a specified time period
• Relative risk


  Calculated by dividing the incidence of the health event for the exposed group by the incidence of the health event in the unexposed group
• A calculated risk ratio equal to or close to one indicates no difference in risk because the incidence is approximately similar in both groups
• Ratios greater than or less than one suggest higher or lower risk, respectively