RT Book, Section
A1 Lorey, Fred
A2 Wallace, Robert B.
SR Print(0)
ID 1141963992
T1 Genetic Determinants of Disease and Genetics in Public Health
T2 Maxcy-Rosenau-Last Public Health and Preventive Medicine, 15e
YR 2017
FD 2017
PB McGraw-Hill Medical
PP New York, NY
SN 9780071441988
LK accessbiomedicalscience.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1141963992
RD 2024/04/19
AB Social  policies,  public  health,  and  medicine,  in  that  general  descending  order  of  importance,  have  improved  human  well-being  and  longevity  in  the  twentieth  century.  Yet  disease  continues,  in  the  form  of  sick  populations  and  sick  individuals,1  and  unhealthy  longevity  is  a  macroeconomic  problem.2  Naturally,  there  has  been  a  response—one  composed  of  social  policies,  public  health,  and  medicine.  In  Canada,  a  major  milestone  in  this  response  was  the  government  document  A  New  Perspective  on  the  Health  of  Canadians,3  which  outlined  the  Health  Field  Concept.  Reasonable,  thoughtful,  and  provocative,  this  document  espoused  a  four-pronged  attack  on  disease,  and  it  welded  ideas  on  lifestyle,  environment,  health  care  organization,  and  human  biology  into  an  approach  to  address  disease  more  effectively.  Considerable  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  first  three  but  rather  less  has  been  heard  about  the  fourth  component,  namely,  the  biological  basis  of  disease.  This  chapter  addresses  that  particular  theme.  Our  topic  is  genetic  determinants  of  disease  and  examples  of  genetics  and  genetic  disease  in  public  health  as  illustrated  by  newborn  and  prenatal  screening  programs.