free online:

http://www.appstate.edu/~perrylb/Courses/1020/Readings/Bezruchka_2012.pdf

 

ABSTRACT

The health of societies can be measured by a range of mortality indicators,
and comparisons of national parameters with those of other societies can be
symbolic of health status and progress. Over the past century, health
outcomes have been steadily improving almost everywhere in the world, but
the rates of improvements have varied. In the 1950s, the United States,
having among the lowest mortality and other indicators of good health,
ranked well among nations. Since then, the United States has not seen the
scale of improvements in health outcomes enjoyed by most other developed
countries, despite spending increasing amounts of its economy on health care
services. Trends in personal health-related behaviors are only part of the
explanation. Structural factors related to inequality and conditions of
early life are important reasons for the relative stagnation in health.
Reversing this relative decline would require a major national coordinated
long-term effort to expose the problem and create the political will to
address it.

 

Several compelling reasons explain why medical care cannot by itself produce
health. Our current understanding of the developmental origins of health and
disease and a life course perspective explain much of chronic illness at
older ages. As much as half of our health as adults is determined before we
go to school. 

 

Personal behaviors are also not credible as key reasons for determining
health among countries despite strong beliefs in the United States (113).
Studies suggest that individual health-related behaviors, although
important, are not a significant determinant of health in the United States
(65, 66).

 

  _____  

From: Social Determinants of Health [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
Dennis Raphael
Sent: Wednesday, 21 March 2012 3:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [SDOH] "The Hurrider I Go the Behinder I Get: The Deteriorating
International Ranking of U.S. Health Status."

 


Bezruchka, S. (2012). "The Hurrider I Go the Behinder I Get: The
Deteriorating International Ranking of U.S. Health Status." Annual Review of
Public Health 33(1): 157-173. 

 

 

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