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Perinatal outcome and the social contract: Interrelationships between health and society
Author(s) -
Gorski Peter A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
pediatrics international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.49
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 1442-200X
pISSN - 1328-8067
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-200x.1998.tb01906.x
Subject(s) - medicine , demographic economics , population , causality (physics) , social determinants of health , infant mortality , inequality , social class , productivity , social inequality , development economics , public health , environmental health , economic growth , economics , nursing , market economy , mathematical analysis , physics , mathematics , quantum mechanics
Rates of infant mortality and prematurity or low birthweight serve as indirect measures of the health of a nation. This paper presents current population data documenting the still serious problem of perinatal outcome in the USA as well as in other economically developed countries. International comparisons suggest that nations which have the greatest inequality of income and social opportunity also have the most adverse perinatal, child and adult health outcomes. Furthermore, the data assert that these effects are independent of average national wealth or gross national economic productivity. Health status differs by social class and race, even among the most affluent sectors of the population. All social classes, even the wealthiest, suffer the health consequences of social inequalities. An explanatory socio‐psychological theory of causality is proposed.