McKeown and the idea that social conditions are fundamental causes of disease

被引:146
作者
Link, BG
Phelan, JC
机构
[1] Columbia Univ, Mailman Sch Publ Hlth, New York, NY USA
[2] New York State Psychiat Inst & Hosp, New York, NY 10032 USA
关键词
D O I
10.2105/AJPH.92.5.730
中图分类号
R1 [预防医学、卫生学];
学科分类号
1004 ; 120402 ;
摘要
In an accompanying commentary, Colgrove indicates that McKeown's thesis-that dramatic reductions in mortality over the past 2 centuries were due to improved socioeconomic conditions rather than to medical or public health interventions-has been ''overturned" and his theory ''discrecited." McKeown sought to explain a very prominent trend in population health and did so with a strong emphasis on the importance of basic social and economic conditions. If Colgrove is right about the McKeown thesis. social epidemiology is left with a gaping hole in its explanatory repertoire and a challenge to a cherished principle about the importance of social factors in health. We return to the trend McKeown focused upon-post-McKeown and post-Colgrove-to indicate how and why social conditions must continue to be seen as fundamental causes of disease.
引用
收藏
页码:730 / 732
页数:3
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