The social determinants of diseases within the primary care setting
The article highlights the social determinants of diseases within the primary care setting. Since the introduction of the new paradigm of the bio-psycho-social model into medicine, the social impact on illness has gained recognition. This article discusses the new approach to patients, as well as the impact that socio-economic status, emotional factors and stress have on health. Furthermore, factors such as the stages of patients’ lives and their ethnic and cultural identity (as well as approaches, such as the general theory of systems) are taken into consideration. New problems in primary care, including multimorbidity, patient frailty and medically unexplained symptoms, which have recently come under intense scrutiny, are also presented. Finally, clinical aspects of frail patients and the economic cost of the treatment of patients who suffer from unexplained symptoms are pointed out.
