Many definitions of health exist. Most definitions consider health as an outcome—the result of actions to produce it, such as good nutrition, immunization to prevent disease, or medical treatment to cure disease. The American Heritage Dictionary defines health as fixed and measurable—"the overall condition of an organism at a given time." However, health also may be vie…
Preventing disease involves a wide range of interrelated programs, actions, and activities. Some prevention measures are sweeping global policy initiatives, such as national and state government actions to reduce health risks by limiting air pollution and other toxic exposures or standards to assure the safety of food and water supplies. Others are focused efforts of public health professionals an…
The practice of medicine often is considered to be both science and art because identifying the underlying causes of disease and establishing a diagnosis require that health care practitioners use a combination of scientific method, intuition, and interpersonal (communication and human relations) skills. Diagnosis relies on the powers of observation; listening and communication skills; analytical …
Degenerative diseases are noninfectious disorders characterized by progressive disability in the patient. Patients often can live for years with their diseases. Although they may not die from degenerative diseases, patients' symptoms usually grow more disabling and they often succumb to common complications of their disorders. …
Genetics, the study of biologic inheritance, explains how and why certain traits, such as hair color and blood types, run in families. Each individual develops from a single fertilized egg, which contains all the information necessary for the development of innate mental and physical characteristics. This information is carried in twenty-three pairs of rod-shaped chromosomes (containing thousands …
Infectious (contagious) diseases are caused by microorganisms—viruses, bacteria, parasites, or fungi—transmitted from one person to another through casual contact, such as influenza; through bodily fluids, such as HIV (human immunodeficiency virus); or via contaminated food, air, or water supplies. Infectious diseases also may spread by vectors of disease such as insects or arthropod…
Mental health may be measured in terms of an individual's abilities to think and communicate clearly, learn and grow emotionally, deal productively and realistically with change and stress, and form and maintain fulfilling relationships with others. Mental health is a principal component of wellness—self-esteem, resilience, and the ability to cope with adversity influence how people …
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), an institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was created in 1992 because consumers of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and health care practitioners wanted to know whether available alternative medical options are safe and effective. NCCAM is "committed to the clinical study of promising CAM subs…
This chapter contains information drawn from an early release of the January to June 2003 National Health Interview Survey, with estimates from 1997 through 2002 for comparison, which asks about the health behaviors of Americans—the lifestyles and health risks they assume, such as being overweight, smoking, consuming alcohol, and how they feel about their health. It also considers the effec…