Social epidemiology

Social epidemiology is defined as "The branch of epidemiology that studies the social distribution and social determinants of health," [Berkman LA, Kawachi I. A Historical Framework for Social Epidemiology. In: Berkman L, Kawachi I, eds. "Social epidemiology". New York: Oxford University Press; 2000:3-12.] that is, "both specific features of, and pathways by which, societal conditions affect health." [Krieger N. A glossary for social epidemiology. "J Epidemiol Community Health". Oct 2001;55(10):693-700.]

Social epidemiology may focus on individual-level measures, or on emergent social properties that have no correlate at the individual level; simultaneous analysis at both levels may be warranted. [Diez-Roux A. Bringing context back into epidemiology: variables and fallacies in multilevel analysis. "Am J Public Health". 1998;88:216-222.] Use of such multilevel models (also known as hierarchical and mixed effects models) has grown in recent years, but suffers from theoretical and practical concerns. [Oakes JM. The (mis)estimation of neighborhood effects: causal inference for a practicable social epidemiology. "Soc Sci Med". May 2004;58(10):1929-1952.]

Social epidemiology overlaps with fields in the social sciences, most notably medical sociology and medical geography. However, these latter fields often use health and disease in order to explain specifically social phenomenon (such as the growth of lay health advocacy movements), [Brown P. Naming and framing: the social construction of diagnosis and illness. "J Health Soc Behav". 1995;Spec No:34-52.] while social epidemiologists generally use social concepts in order to explain patterns of health in the population.; A "partial" list of social epidemiologists includes:
* John Lynch, McGill University: social class, material conditions, and health
* Richard Wilkinson (public health), University of Nottingham: income inequality and health
* Michael Marmot, University College London: social class and health
* Nancy Krieger, Harvard University: racism, social class, geographic disparities and health
* Jay Kaufman, UNC-Chapel Hill: social epidemiology methods, race and health
* Ana Diez-Roux, University of Michigan: neighborhoods and health, multilevel methods
* Michael Oakes, University of Minnesota: neighborhoods and health, social epidemiology methods
* Nancy Adler, UC-San Francisco: psychosocial mediators
* George Kaplan, University of Michigan
* Leonard Syme, UC Berkeley
* Sherman James, Duke University
* Lisa Berkman, Harvard University
* Thomas A. Glass, Johns Hopkins University
* Ichiro Kawachi, Harvard University
* George Davey Smith, University of Bristol (UK)
* Richard Cooper, Loyola University Chicago
* Juan Merlo, Lund University, Sweden
* Martin Lindström, Lund University, Sweden
* Maria Rosvall, Lund University, Sweden

References