Abstract
The concepts of health and health care are moving towards the notion of personalized preventive health maintenance and away from an exclusive focus on the cure of disease. This is against the backdrop of contemporary public health challenges that include increasing costs, worsening outcomes, ‘diabesity’ epidemics, and anticipated physician shortages. Personalized preventive medicine could be critical to solving public health challenges at their causal root. This paper sets forth a vision and plan for the realization of preventive medicine by 2050 and examines efforts already underway such as participatory health initiatives, the era of big health data, and qualitative shifts in mindset.
Highlights
When considering the critical health challenges of the current era, it is easy to think of the 18% of the U.S GDP being spent on health care ($8,402 per person per year in 2010) [1], health outcomes that lag those of other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries [2], J
($1.3 billion) [5], and the fact that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were medically-related [6]. In spite of these factors, this paper instead argues that the key public health challenge at present is the realization of preventive medicine
The scope and organization of this paper is to first discuss the expanded concept of health and health care that is at the heart of Health 2050: Preventive Medicine, to look at the different dimensions of a condition’s life cycle before it becomes clinical, and to propose how preventive medicine may be realized through participatory health initiatives, the era of big health data, and philosophical shifts in mindset
Summary
When considering the critical health challenges of the current era, it is easy to think of the 18% of the U.S GDP being spent on health care ($8,402 per person per year in 2010) [1], health outcomes that lag those of other Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries [2], J. Med. 2012, 2 the obesity epidemic (the U.S Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that 42% of American adults will be obese by 2030 as compared to 34% today) [3], aging worldwide populations [4], anticipated physician and nursing shortages, the high cost of bringing a new drug to market ($1.3 billion) [5], and the fact that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 were medically-related [6] In spite of these factors, this paper instead argues that the key public health challenge at present is the realization of preventive medicine.
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