Social determinants of health behaviours and social change

摘要

There is wealth of literature on social determinants of health. The mechanisms through which social determinants influence health and health inequities are multiple. Many agree that health behaviours are in key position. In populations with marked social characterization of health behaviours, smoking, alcohol use, food habits and physical activity count for much of mortality differences between socioeconomic groups. Although there is a lot of cross sectional data, there is relatively little research how social changes in a population are reflected in health behaviours within the same population and its subgroups.Health behaviours are relatively stable; people follow-under social, economic and cultural constraints-behavioural patterns adapted in childhood and youth. However, the many intervention and monitoring studies show that population-wide behavioural changes are possible. But what can be learned about change and stability of health behaviours when time trends and socio-demographic differences are compared in different countries? A relevant report was recently published on health behaviours in North-Eastern Europe, in Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania in 1998-2008. This Finbalt Health Monitor report gives interesting lessons on the dynamics of social determinants of health behaviours.