Bartley M, Blane D, Montgomery S
Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University College London Medical School.
BMJ. 1997 Apr 19;314(7088):1194-6. doi: 10.1136/bmj.314.7088.1194.
This article argues that a life course approach is necessary to understand social variations in health. This is needed in order to take into account the complex ways in which biological risk interacts with economic, social, and psychological factors in the development of chronic disease. Such an approach reveals biological and social "critical periods" during which social policies that will defend individuals against an accumulation of risk are particularly important. In many ways, the authors of modern welfare states were implicitly addressing these issues, and the contribution of these policies to present day high standards of health in developed countries should not be ignored.
本文认为，采用生命历程方法对于理解健康方面的社会差异是必要的。这是为了考虑到在慢性病发展过程中生物风险与经济、社会和心理因素相互作用的复杂方式。这样一种方法揭示了生物和社会的“关键时期”，在此期间，能够保护个人免受风险累积影响的社会政策尤为重要。在许多方面，现代福利国家的缔造者们都在含蓄地应对这些问题，这些政策对发达国家当今高标准健康状况的贡献不应被忽视。
