Trnovec T, Cook T, Kahayová K, Nyulassy S
Institute of Preventive and Clinical Medicine, Bratislava, Slovak Republic.
Cent Eur J Public Health. 2001 Feb;9(1):49-52.
Civilization can be defined as the distinctly human attributes and attainments of a particular society. In general, the development of civilization is viewed as a positive step for the well-being of the human species, leading to an increased duration and quality of human life. The accelerated progress of civilization (mainly industrialization, urbanization and nutrition) has lead to new possibilities for adverse effects on human health. A collection of problems referred to as 'civilization diseases' has become the subject of serious concern but review of available data indicates that this concept appears to add very little to our understanding of modern environmental influences on human health. Important limitations in the continued use of this term are its non-specificity, the lack of a unifying scientific foundation, and provision of virtually no direction for remediation of these diseases or for future research. In addition, the use of this term has been localized to primarily post-socialist European countries. In view of these limitations, it seems more productive for scientists, in all parts of the world, to embrace the discipline of environmental health science and to discontinue use of the term "civilization diseases".
文明可被定义为特定社会中独特的人类属性和成就。总体而言，文明的发展被视为人类福祉的积极进步，带来人类寿命延长和生活质量提高。文明的加速进步（主要是工业化、城市化和营养改善）带来了对人类健康产生不利影响的新可能性。一系列被称为“文明病”的问题已成为严重关切的主题，但对现有数据的审查表明，这一概念似乎对我们理解现代环境对人类健康的影响帮助甚微。持续使用这一术语存在的重要局限性在于其不明确性、缺乏统一的科学基础，并且几乎没有为这些疾病的治疗或未来研究提供任何方向。此外，这一术语的使用主要局限于后社会主义欧洲国家。鉴于这些局限性，世界各地的科学家采用环境卫生科学学科并停止使用“文明病”这一术语似乎更具成效。
