The Relationship Between Socioeconomic Positions And The Incidence Of Type 2 Diabetes And Obesity Essay

Why are higher income and social status associated with better health? If it were just a matter of the poorest and lowest status groups having poor health, the explanation could be things like poor living conditions. But the effect occurs all across the socio-economic spectrum. Considerable research indicates that the degree of control people have over life circumstances,

Socio-economic class or socio-economic status (SES) may refer to mixture of various factors such as poverty, occupation and environment. It is a way of measuring the standard and quality of life of individuals and families in society using social and economic factors that affect health and wellbeing ( Giddens and Sutton, 2013). Cockerham (2007 p75) argues: ‘Social class or socioeconomic status (SES) is the strongest predictor of health, disease causation and longevity in medical sociology.’ Research in the 1990s, (Drever and Whitehead, 1997) found out that people in higher SES are generally healthier, and live longer than those in lower SES.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing, and not just the absence of disease” (WHO, 1974). Health inequalities are the differences in health or healthcare opportunities in different societies this may be due to income,

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to attain his or her full health potential and no one is disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2015). Satcher (2010) reports that health inequities are “systematic, avoidable, and unjust” disparities (p. 6). He also states that the World Health Organization (WHO) concluded that social conditions are the most important determinant of a person’s health. Social conditions “determine access to health services and influence lifestyle choices” (Satcher, 2010, p. 6). These determinants must be addressed in order to reduce health inequity. Inequity can be

Clearly, the individualistic western society has taken a toll upon the populace, in such a way as to render certain members of the social order helpless in matters of health and wellbeing (Peralta 329). A degree in sociology is not required to note significant health differences amongst the various SES’s of the population. According to information from the CDC in conjunction with per capita income by state and county, the wealthiest counties within the wealthiest of states, generally, held the lowest population of obese individuals ("Obesity and Overweight…”np) ("State and County…”np). Such information proves only to refute Peralta’s claims that an unequal allocation of resources perpetuates and unequal society. Commensurate to the given socioeconomic status of certain groups are the variances within racial and gender based identities. For instance, according to statistics offered by Peralta, the educated, wealthy, white woman will weigh substantially less than the average African American woman (Peralta 334-335). This can be attributed to the variances in aesthetic ideal within the different cultures.

Diabetes is a metabolic disease and caused by high blood sugar level over a long period of time. It generally occurs when pancreas fail to produce enough insulin. Symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased hunger. There are three forms of Diabetes. Type I Diabetes Mellitus, Type II Diabetes Mellitus and gestational diabetes. It is a growing epidemic and apart from the economic burden, diabetes inflicts severe societal costs in terms of decreased quality of life of people afflicted with diabetes. Social determinants of health are defined as surroundings in which people are born, live, spend their life and grow old (Healthy People 2020). The association of social determinants with disparities is important

The sociological approach to health and illness focuses on the social determinants of health and how this affects the health of society. It explores where we are on the socio-economic ladder and how this determines access to healthy food, a healthy lifestyle, education, income, accommodation, healthcare, transportation and good working conditions. This approach considers culture, the behaviour of individuals and the social structures we live in, with a belief that when treating health and illness if all these areas are considered and changes are made in conjunction with modern medicine then the health of society will be improved. “If the major determinants of health are social, so must be the remedies. Treating existing disease is urgent and will always receive high priority but should not be to the exclusion of taking action on the underlying social determinants of health” (Marmot, 2005: 1103).

Overweight and obesity are risk factors for diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and other health problems. Since there is no single cause of all overweight and obesity, there is no single way to prevent or treat overweight and obesity that will help everyone. Treatment may include a combination of diet, exercise, behavior modification, and sometimes weight-loss drugs. In some cases of extreme obesity, bariatric surgery may be recommended. Once the disease is there it plans on staying there is no easy way of getting rid of it. We have to plan early and quick that is the importance and the message trying to be conveyed. We must make an early strike to prevent further

Health inequalities are preventable and unjust differences in health status experienced by certain population groups. People in lower socio-economic groups are more likely to experience health inequalities than people in higher socio-economic classes. Health inequalities are not only found between people of different

classes are perhaps not as clear as they used to be. But it is just as

The lack of adequate health care for those of lower socioeconomic status contributes to the problem of obesity. One study done in Europe found that obesity, which disproportionately affected people with lower social status, was not only linked to cardiovascular disease but also to mortality rate (Mackenbach et al 1997). These would seem obvious enough but the implications deal directly with the issue of health care availability. The higher rate of mortality cannot be explained by the increase in risk. The authors of this study concluded that lack of health care was the true determining factor for mortality. People don't necessarily die from cardiovascular disease especially if one has the money and opportunity to receive quality health care. It is much easier for those with money to receive quality treatment and prevention of cardiovascular disease. In the US many poor families don't have access to regular

This essay will discuss ways in which a person’s socioeconomic class and his/her social situation can have an impact on his/her health, using examples. We believe that there is a direct link between socioeconomic/social class and health (Adler et al. 1994). I will be defining the key terms: socioeconomic and health, social class then proceed to discuss about how poverty, income, employability, environment and housing can impact on a person’s social situation and their health.

Income inequality also causes obesity however; we mostly blame individuals for being obese. Being obese can have a serious impact on mental and physical health. it is an illness that is associated with stereotypes. The biggest one is “if poor people become obese they cannot be not poor”. People in this mentality also exclude the structural and social conditions that cause illnesses such as obesity. Social life affects the health of people, especially the socioeconomic level. How much you earn monthly is a factor how fit you are. The risk of being an obese is lower for the wealthy individuals. Poor people are obese because they have no money to buy healthy food, they have no time to exercise, they have stress that causes them to eat constantly, they lack education, they do not have access to the healthcare, they do not have social support and so on. It is mostly about the income inequality.

The aim of this essay is to examine the influence that socio-economic status has on an individual’s health.

Diabetes incidence compared with childhood socioeconomic factors were concluded from several different results. In four of the ten studies, they found that risk of diabetes in children of lower SEP compared to their counterparts of higher SEP, that there was only a slightly elevated risk for diabetes. Another finding was that, “low maternal education of high school or less, was a significant factor that influenced diabetes incidence (p< 0.01)” (Tamayo et al 7). The last finding regarding diabetes incidence was from a study that found little effect of low SEP in diabetes compared to high SEP counterparts (Tamayo et al 7). As for obesity and childhood SEP some of the results from the studies included: “In one study of 1,550 participants, the results showed that belonging to a low income family (less than 26,000US$/year) was a significant predictor of obesity at an early age (p<0.05), whereas parental occupation had gender disparities. One study found that, “women had a significantly higher risk of being overweight or obese if their father had worked in blue-collar occupations (OR 3.4)” (Tamayo et al 7-11). The fact that this study lacked statistical analysis on both diabetes and obesity and their relation to childhood SEP, it makes it harder to relate to the focus of this