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P3-Explain patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings
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P3-Explain patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings
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Unit 6P3-Explain patterns and trends in health and illness among different social groupings
Between social groupings such as age, gender, locality, social class and ethnicity there are distinct
patterns and trends in health and illness. Why is it that poor people tend to have poor health and
rich people tend to have good health? In this task, I will explain points such as the one above,
furthermore, I will explain the patterns and trends in health and illness among the different social
groupings within our society.
What is a pattern and trend and their differences?
Trends and patterns are similar, however different. When you think of a trend, you may think of a
fashion trend. While in the 80s and 90s blonde bleached hair was popular. In the 20 th century you
very rarely see someone with blonde bleached hair. Blonde bleached hair is a trend, while it was
popular back in the day it no longer is. A trend is commonly defined as a change or development
towards something new or different. A trend in health or ill health could the disease polio. Polio was
a detrimental disease around in the 19 hundreds. When polio arrived it brought on major
complications for many people, in fact research shows that polio epidemics in the UK, would result
in 7760 cases yearly. However, one day a vaccination was created and distributed and polio was
eradicated. Trends in poliovirus cases decreased, and eventually cases stopped and society moved
on.
Differently, a pattern is something repetitive. For example, wallpaper, the pattern just goes on and
on until it reaches the end. While a trend is usually something that usually comes and goes, for
example coronavirus, a pattern is something that is repeated. A pattern of ill health could be
mortality rates. Research shows that women live longer than men, there are consistent patterns that
show this, and this pattern continues.
So, to conclude a trend is a change or development towards something new or different, while a
pattern is usually something repetitive and seen a lot e.g. a pattern of cancer or respiratory
complications in those who smoke.
I will now describe the social groupings within society including age, gender, locality, social class and
ethnicity. Then, I will describe patterns and trends in health and illness such as, what evidence is
there showing that men are less likely to go to the doctors?
Mortality rate
Mortality rate is the number of recorded deaths on a large scale.
Morbidity rate
Morbidity rate is frequency in which a disease appears in a population per annum.
Infant mortality rate
Infant mortality rate is the death or children under the age of 1 year.
Life expectancy
Life expectancy is the average period that a person may expect to live.
,Gender and patterns of health and illness
In society, there is a huge controversy about how many genders there are in society. However, there
is believed to be two genders male and female. The world health organisation defines gender as:
“Gender refers to the socially constructed characteristics of women and men, such as norms, roles
and relationships of and between groups of women and men. It varies from society to society and
can be changed”. In simpler terms gender is defined as the socially constructed roles and behaviours
that society typically associated with males and females. So we can see from this definition of
gender is constructed by society. An example of gender is referring to someone who wears a dress
as a female and someone who wears a suit as a male.
Mortality rates & life expectancy
So why is it that people of different genders have different health outcomes, for example, statistics
show that 57% of all those aged 65 and older are female. By age 85, 67% Are women. So why do
women live longer than men? I will now explain patterns and trends in health and illness to explain
this point and find out how gender can affect health and illness.
Although the life expectancy for women is higher than that of men, with the typical women living
five years longer than men and the infant mortality rates for boys being persistently higher than
those for baby girls, studies report higher levels of illnesses for women than men.
The mortality rates of both genders have decreased massively since the 19th century. It has
decreased by 25% for females and 29% for males. In today’s British society, The Office for National
Statistics in 2016 reported the average life expectancy for men was 79.2 years of age whereas, 82.9
years for female. So why the difference in life expectancy?
Men less likely to visit doctors
There are multiple reasons why women tend to live longer than men. Women are most likely to visit
the doctors or hospital when they are ill whereas, men are more unlikely to go to the doctors even in
great pain. Research shows more than 40% of men do not visit the doctors unless they have a
serious issue on their hands. This means that men will be at a later stage of illness and it could be
harder to provide medication or treatment for the illness. For example, If a male and a female was to
both have bowel cancer-like symptoms, if the female went to the doctors within a week of noticing
the symptoms she would have a better chance of getting through cancer due to noticing the cancer
earlier. On the other hand, if the male was to be reluctant to go towards the doctors there would be
a higher chance of him not making it through cancer due to the cancer progressing too far to be
treated.
Risk factors
The higher death rate of men can be linked with many different factors including higher levels of
cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. Men drastically outnumber women in many risky life-
threatening jobs, including firefighting, working in the armed forces and working in and on
construction sites another factor which can contribute to the higher death rate and lower life
expectancy. Men are surprisingly 50% more likely than women to die of heart disease. The part that
men have much lower oestrogen levels than women could be key contributor to the reason. But
medical risks, such as poorly treated high blood pressure or unfavourable cholesterol, may
contribute as well. Lastly, statics show that the relatively high death rate of young men between 17
and 24 is specifically linked with the risk-taking and the associated deaths from road accidents.
, Economic inequalities
Growing evidence and research from across the world indicates that many health outcomes
anything from life longevity to infant mortality to obesity can be associated and connected to the
level of economic inequality within a population.
In the UK despite changes in the law, economic inequality is still a big issue within society. Women
still earn less than men. The UK witnessed a dramatic growth in income inequality in the 1980s, since
then the level of inequality has increased further, though at a slower rate. The Equal Opportunities
Commission states ‘almost 30 years after the Equal Pay Act made it illegal to pay women less for
doing the same job, a pay gap of 18% still exists between women and men working full-time’.
Furthermore, a higher proportion of women than men are in low paid part-time work, they are more
likely to be the main carer in a lone-parent family and much more likely to be on state benefits. In
relation to the economic inequalities, a woman living by herself with children working a low paid job
is more likely to be in poverty due to the low wage and cost of providing for her children.
Therefore, she would be more likely to have poorer health as many individuals living in poverty have
poorer health due to lack of nutrition, poor housing conditions, lack of funds to pay for the essential
needs for optimal health and the higher chances of developing depression and low self-esteem.
So why/how is it that gender affects health
In the UK, mortality is much higher in males then females, no matter the age. Men in their youths
and premature adulthoods are increasingly more likely to be killed in motor accidents, other injuries
and suicide, factors of which contribute to higher death rates within boys and young men.
Throughout the life states, death rates are higher for men than women for all big death causes i.e.
cardiovascular disease and cancers. Aside from that, strangely women have increasingly higher rates
of disability and impairment than men, especially in older ages. Women also have more morbidity
due to poor mental health, especially those related or linked to anxiety and depressive disorder.
WHO (2008) state that gender differences in health are resultant of both biology and social roles
(distinct roles and behaviours of men and women a given culture, dictated by that culture gender
norms and values).
(scrambler 2008) used social factors to explain higher mortality rates in men:
Employment- More occupations commonly occupied by male characters involve engenderment to
life I.e. environmental hazards, dangerous machinery and exposure to toxic chemicals.
Risk-taking behaviour- Men are more socialized to carry out and indulge in threatening dangerous
sports like car racing and rock climbing etc. Also, men are at increasingly high risk of road traffic
accident and injury.
Smoking- In the past, men had higher smoking rates then women. However, the gender gap
between men and women in smoking has slimmed recently, especially in economically well off
countries.
Alcohol- Men drink much more than women in all age groups and are much more likely than women
to go over the daily recommended alcohol intake.
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