All flashcards
Flashcard 1: What is absolute poverty?
Answer: Insufficient resources to meet basic needs (food, shelter, sanitation). Below minimum threshold for human survival and dignity.
Flashcard 2: What is relative poverty?
Answer: Deprivation compared with societal standards or peers. Having less than what's considered normal in one's society.
Flashcard 3: What is meant by the socioeconomic gradient in health?
Answer: Health improves stepwise as socioeconomic status increases. Each increase in SES level corresponds to better health outcomes.
Flashcard 4: Which direction does morbidity typically change as socioeconomic status decreases?
Answer: Morbidity increases as socioeconomic status decreases. Lower SES is associated with higher rates of illness and disease.
Flashcard 5: What term describes preventable differences in health outcomes between groups?
Answer: Health disparities. These differences are avoidable and unjust, not biologically determined.
Flashcard 6: What is the definition of health equity?
Answer: Fair opportunity for all to attain full health potential. Removes barriers so everyone can achieve their best possible health.
Flashcard 7: What is the difference between equality and equity in health?
Answer: Equality is same resources; equity is resources matched to need. Equity recognizes different starting points require different support.
Flashcard 8: Which concept explains how chronic stress can produce long-term physiological wear?
Answer: Allostatic load. Cumulative biological cost of repeated stress response activation.
Flashcard 9: What is the definition of social determinants of health?
Answer: Social and environmental conditions shaping health risks and care. Non-medical factors like housing and education affect health outcomes.
Flashcard 10: Which measure of SES is most directly tied to access to material resources?
Answer: Income (or wealth). Money directly enables purchasing healthcare, food, and housing.
Flashcard 11: What is absolute poverty?
Answer: Inability to meet basic needs (food, shelter, safety). Lacks resources for survival regardless of others' circumstances.
Flashcard 12: What is the epidemiologic transition model describing?
Answer: Shift from infectious to chronic disease as development increases. Nations progress from high infectious to high chronic disease burden.
Flashcard 13: Identify the term for unequal exposure to hazards based on race or class.
Answer: Environmental injustice. Marginalized groups face disproportionate pollution and toxic exposure.
Flashcard 14: Which level of prevention aims to detect disease early via screening?
Answer: Secondary prevention. Catches disease before symptoms appear, improving treatment outcomes.
Flashcard 15: What is meant by the inverse care law?
Answer: Those needing care most often have the least access to it. Healthcare availability decreases as population need increases.
Flashcard 16: What is residential segregation in the context of health disparities?
Answer: Physical separation by race/SES that concentrates risks and limits resources. Creates neighborhoods with unequal environmental hazards and services.
Flashcard 17: Which type of racism involves policies and institutions producing unequal outcomes?
Answer: Institutional (structural) racism. Systems and practices that disadvantage racial groups systematically.
Flashcard 18: What is the "fundamental cause" theory of health inequality?
Answer: SES shapes health via flexible resources across many diseases. SES provides adaptable advantages that protect against various illnesses.
Flashcard 19: Identify the term for the combined burden of infectious and chronic disease in poorer nations.
Answer: The double burden of disease. Developing countries face both old and new disease challenges simultaneously.
Flashcard 20: What does the Gini coefficient measure in global inequality?
Answer: Income inequality within a population. Ranges from 0 (perfect equality) to 1 (maximum inequality).
Flashcard 21: What does the Disability-Adjusted Life Year (DALY) measure?
Answer: Years of healthy life lost from disability plus premature death. Combines mortality and morbidity into one health burden metric.
Flashcard 22: What does the Maternal Mortality Ratio (MMR) measure?
Answer: Maternal deaths per 100000 live births. Reflects healthcare access and quality for pregnant women.
Flashcard 23: Which option is a leading downstream determinant of poor health in low SES: education or genotype?
Answer: Education. Genotype is biological; education limits opportunities and health literacy.
Flashcard 24: Identify the concept: worse health caused by neighborhood exposure to pollutants and hazards.
Answer: Environmental injustice. Low-income areas face disproportionate toxic exposures.
Flashcard 25: Which measure best captures income inequality within a country: Gini coefficient or GDP?
Answer: Gini coefficient. GDP measures total wealth; Gini measures distribution inequality.
Flashcard 26: Which option best describes the SES–health relationship: threshold effect or graded effect?
Answer: Graded effect (continuous stepwise differences across SES levels). Health improves continuously with each SES increase, not just above a threshold.
Flashcard 27: What is absolute poverty (in health inequality contexts)?
Answer: Insufficient resources to meet basic needs (food, shelter, safety). Lacks minimum resources for survival, regardless of others' wealth.
Flashcard 28: What is relative poverty (in health inequality contexts)?
Answer: Deprivation compared with others in the same society. Poor relative to societal standards, even if basic needs are met.
Flashcard 29: What is the difference between health inequality and health inequity?
Answer: Inequality = difference; inequity = unfair, avoidable difference. Inequity adds moral judgment that the difference is unjust.
Flashcard 30: What is meant by social determinants of health?
Answer: Social and economic conditions shaping health risks and outcomes. Non-medical factors like income, education, and housing affect health.