Influence Of Social Inequalities Research Articles

Social determinants of vulnerabilities in type 2 diabetes: a call to action.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is a chronic disease which leads to high morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Although relevant gains have been made towards evidence-based diabetes care, patients with T2D still experience diabetes complications and excess mortality risk, owing to multiple contributors, including non-clinical factors. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the main social determinants of vulnerabilities, which are known to have a relevant impact on T2D outcomes. As chronic diseases are under the influence of social inequalities, medicine and sociology are intertwined in the attempt to understand, explain and address them. There is robust evidence about a clear relationship between social determinants of health (SDOH), such as socio-economic status (occupation, education, income), and the likelihood of developing T2D and its complications. Furthermore, the uncontrolled widespread of T2D in urban areas, mainly among suburban communities, suggests that cities might act as amplifiers of SDOH, enhancing inequalities in health care and, therefore, life expectancy. In light of the strong association between socio-cultural aspects and T2D outcomes, a global action is needed to raise awareness about disparities in diabetes prevention and treatment to reduce the burden of the disease.

Aging and COVID-19 in Minority Populations: a Perfect Storm.

Purpose of ReviewCOVID-19 is a major concern for the health and wellbeing of individuals worldwide. As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to increase in the USA, aging Black and Hispanic populations have emerged as especially at-risk for increased exposure to COVID-19 and susceptibility to severe health outcomes. The current review discusses the weathering hypothesis and the influence of social inequality on the identified health disparities.Recent FindingsAging minoritized populations have endured structural and social inequality over the lifecourse. Consequently, these populations experience weathering, a process that results in physiological dysregulation due to stress associated with persistent disadvantage. Through weathering and continued inequity, aging minoritized populations have an increased risk of exposure and poor health outcomes from COVID-19.SummaryCurrent literature and available data suggests that aging minoritized persons experience high rates of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The current review hypothesizes and supports that observed disparities are the result of inequalities that especially affect Black and Hispanic populations over the lifecourse. Future efforts to address these disparities should emphasize research that supports governments in identifying at-risk groups, providing accessible COVID-19-related information to those groups, and implementing policy that addresses the structural and social inequities that perpetuate current COVID-19 disparities.

Influence of Social Inequalities on Dietary Diversity and Household Food Insecurity: An In-Depth Nutrition Baseline Survey Conducted in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Home to a significant proportion of the world's population, India is one of the hardest hit countries when it comes to malnutrition. While the magnitude of malnutrition in India is vast, it is also unevenly spread due to inequalities of the social, political, and economic situation. As part of the special initiative of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), "One World - No Hunger," GIZ is implementing a Global Program on "Food and Nutrition Security, Enhanced Resilience" (FaNS) in 12 countries, including India. The GIZ FaNS program, in agreement with the Department of Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution on a central level, and the Department of Women and Child Development in Madhya Pradesh, aims to improve food security and nutrition diversity for women in the reproductive age group (15-49 years) and young children (6-23 months) in the districts of Sheopur and Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. The present study, conducted in the state of Madhya Pradesh in India, describes the nutrition situation of women and children belonging to disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds and aims to assess how underlying factors are influencing the nutrition diversity and food security situation. The findings highlight low dietary diversity with more than 80% of women and 77% of children consuming less than the daily recommended food groups. A high level of food insecurity (49.9%) was also reported in the study area (https://www.snrd-africa.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/GIZ_Nutrition-Baseline-Survey-Summary-Report.pdf). Furthermore, the study affirms that caste status negatively influences dietary diversity, especially among women and those with household food insecurity. A better educational status and income stability resulted in a better nutrition status for mothers and children. Access to food and nutrition services (OR 1.5; p = 0.04), exposure to nutrition counselling (OR 1.323; p = 0.001), and hygiene practices (OR 1.8; p = 0.002) can be instrumental in improving the dietary diversity and food security status of families, irrespective of prevailing inequalities.

School mobilization’s adolescents and representation of parental involvement: the influence of social inequalities

Cette etude vise a analyser l’influence de l’engagement educatif parental percu sur la mobilisation scolaire des collegiens selon leurs caracteristiques sociodemographiques. Les inegalites sociales sont apprehendees quant aux differences de ressources dans le domaine educatif selon les formes d’engagement educatif parental et la prise en compte des variables sociodemographiques. Une enquete par questionnaires a ete menee aupres d’un echantillon de 405 adolescents scolarises de la 6e a la 3e. Les resultats mettent en evidence l’impact considerable de la representation de l’engagement parental sur la mobilisation scolaire, differemment selon l’âge ou le sexe, le milieu socioculturel n’ayant aucun effet significatif.

Factors associated with infant and adolescent mortality

Few studies have described factors associated with infant and adolescent mortality since birth. We report here mortality during a 20-year period in a birth cohort from Ribeirão Preto in order to identify birth variables that influenced mortality among infants and children between 10 and 19 years of age, the main causes of death, and the influence of social inequality at birth on death. Mothers were interviewed shortly after delivery. Social, biological and demographic information was collected, and mortality up to 19 years of age was investigated in registry systems. Of the 6748 liveborn singletons born in the municipality from 1978 to 1979, 343 died before or when 19 years of age were completed. Most of the cohort mortality (74.9%) occurred during the first year of life and 19.6% occurred from 10 to 19 years. Mortality was higher among boys. Preterm birth (hazard ratio, HR = 7.94) and low birth weight (HR = 10.15) were strongly associated with infant mortality. Other risk factors for infant mortality were: maternal age (3)35 years (HR = 1.74), unskilled manual occupation of family head (HR = 2.47), and for adolescent mortality: unskilled manual occupation of family head (HR = 9.98) and male sex (HR = 6.58). "Perinatal conditions" were the main causes of deaths among infants and "external causes" among adolescents, especially boys. Socioeconomic factors at birth, represented by occupation, influenced adolescent mortality due to external causes, which was higher among boys (7:1). The influence of social inequality at birth on death, measured by occupation, was greater in adolescence than in infancy.

Die Bedeutung sozialer Ungleichheit für die Gesundheit im Jugendalter

The aim of the study was to investigate socioeconomic differences in adolescent health in Germany. Findings are based on data from 5650 11- to 15-year-old German pupils participating in the cross-national study "Health Behaviour in School-age Children" in 2002. Extend and occurrence of health inequalities depended largely on the selected health out comes. Moreover, there were marked gender-specific differences in respect of socioeconomic differences in health. For both, boys and girls, results showed a strong effect of socioeconomic status (parental occupation and family affluence) on overweight. Allergies yielded comparable results in respect of socioeconomic differences. On the other hand, social inequalities had an influence on psychological health mainly in girls. This effect was found for the number as well as for the extent of socioeconomic health differences. No health inequalities were found in respect of injuries, life satisfaction and underweight, independent of gender. The influence of social inequalities on adolescents' health was considerably more complex and more stratified than expected. The analysis indicates that the special characteristics of adolescence need to be taken into account in the discussion of social inequalities in health. The fact that young people's health is probably less influenced by social inequality then it is during other parts of the life course points attention to adolescence as an important stage for preventive efforts.

Criminality and Social Inequality in Brazil

This study aims at shedding light the question on the criminality in Brazil. Previous analyses have concentrated on the impact of social factors, as for instance inequality, on criminality, nevertheless without making explicit the mechanism by which this variable works. The main hypothesis here is that the agent has a targeted consumption pattern given by average social standards. The non-satisfied consumption creates dissatisfaction, thus making the agent vulnerable to criminal activities. Using Becker's analysis (1968) in the intertemporal maximizing framework, this study shows that the required income to do not undertake illicit activities grows up in a proportional way to the degree of dissatisfaction. Following the methodological approach, it is tested the influence of social inequality on criminality rates for a sample of Brazilian states during the period 1987-1995 using panel data approach. The use of this method allows estimators capable of taking into account the existing heterogeneity among states. The main result that emerges is that social inequality given by the Gini coefficient has a positive impact on criminality rates.