This article discusses social inequality

Social inequality

Social inequality refers to a situation in which individual groups in a society do not have equal social status. Areas of potential social inequality include voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, the extent of property rights and access to education, health care, quality housing and other...

 in the United States

Income inequality in the United States

Income inequality in the United States of America refers to the extent to which income is distributed in an uneven manner in the US. Data from the United States Department of Commerce, CBO, and Internal Revenue Service indicate that income inequality among households has been increasing...

 and its effects on individual health, and more specifically likelihood of developing diseases

Disease

A disease is an abnormal condition affecting the body of an organism. It is often construed to be a medical condition associated with specific symptoms and signs. It may be caused by external factors, such as infectious disease, or it may be caused by internal dysfunctions, such as autoimmune...

.

While rates of incidence for many diseases vary based on biological factors and inheritable characteristics, a larger disparity

Health disparities

Health equity refers to the study of differences in the quality of health and health care across different populations....

, which cannot be explained by biological factors, exists in disease rates among varying racial and socioeconomic groups in the United States (for example, lower-income

Poverty in the United States

Poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. According to the U.S. Census Bureau data released Tuesday September 13th, 2011, the nation's poverty rate rose to 15.1% in 2010, up from 14.3% in 2009 and to its highest level...

 African-Americans and upper-class

American upper class

See: millionaire for more details-Millionaires:See also: MillionairesHouseholds with net worths of $1 million or more may be identified as members of the upper-most socio-economic demographic, depending on the class model used...

 Caucasians

Caucasian race

The term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...

). This suggests that social and economic factors play a role in determining who acquires certain diseases in the United States. For example, heart disease

Heart disease

Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...

 is the most dangerous disease in America, followed closely by cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, with the fifth most deadly being diabetes. The general risk factors

Risk factors

A risk factor is a concept in finance theory such as the CAPM, APT and other theories that use pricing kernels. In these models, the rate of return of an asset is a random variable whose realization in any time period is a linear combination of other random variables plus a disturbance term or...

 associated with these three diseases include obesity

Obesity

Obesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...

 and poor diet

Nutrition

Nutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....

, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 and alcohol

Alcohol

In chemistry, an alcohol is an organic compound in which the hydroxy functional group is bound to a carbon atom. In particular, this carbon center should be saturated, having single bonds to three other atoms....

 use, physical inactivity, and access to medical care and health information. While these risk factors are perceived as individual health choices, they are also correlated with socioeconomic factors, such as gender

Gender

Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...

, race, income

Income

Income is the consumption and savings opportunity gained by an entity within a specified time frame, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. However, for households and individuals, "income is the sum of all the wages, salaries, profits, interests payments, rents and other forms of earnings...

, environment

Environment (systems)

In science and engineering, a system is the part of the universe that is being studied, while the environment is the remainder of the universe that lies outside the boundaries of the system. It is also known as the surroundings, and in thermodynamics, as the reservoir...

, and education

Education

Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

, and consequently, a person’s likelihood for developing heart disease, cancer, or diabetes is in part determined by these social factors. Accordingly, men are more likely than women to die from heart disease. Likewise, African-Americans and other racial minorities have higher mortality rates from heart disease, cancer, and diabetes than their white counterparts. Among all racial groups, individuals who are impoverished

Poverty

Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

 or low income, have lower levels of educational attainment, and live in lower-income neighborhoods are all more likely to develop heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

Gender

Gender as a defining characteristic of a social group has different effects for the different diseases. Men are 30% more likely to suffer a stroke than women. Women generally have a healthier diet, and tend to consume fewer fats and carbohydrates. Women are also more likely to engage in regular exercise and follow their doctor’s orders concerning healthy habits. Men are more inclined to hot tempers and emotional outbursts that can increase blood pressure. Men are also more likely to be smokers than women. Both men and women battle cancer, but different forms of cancer pertain more or less to the different sexes. Breast cancer affects women more than men, and prostate cancer affects men more than women. Lung cancer, however, is the number one cancer-related killer for both men and women, but men are more likely to develop and die from it. Diabetes, on the other hand, is more deadly for women. In recent years, the mortality rate for diabetes is higher for women than it is for men.

Race

Race is a strong determinant of disease rates, mostly because racial minorities make up a large portion of the lowest social level. African Americans are more likely to die from heart disease than whites because they are less likely to engage in primary prevention techniques, such as exercise and a healthy diet. Also, more African Americans are obese or overweight and are smokers. Similarly, African Americans have the highest death rate and shortest survival rate of ant racial and ethnic group for most cancers. African Americans are more likely to smoke mentholated cigarettes with higher carbon monoxide concentrations, which put them at greater risk for developing lung cancer. Obesity is more common in African Americans in part because they are less likely to engage in leisure-time physical activity. The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes is four times higher among African Americans and other racial minorities due to both poorer diets and less physical activity.

Income

Income is a huge factor contributing to the prevalence of heart disease because it is a predictor of many other social factors, such as one’s neighborhood, education level, occupation, and overall social status. Income itself, as well as the distribution of income affect the occurrence of heart disease. Populations with high levels of income inequality display higher rates of heart disease than populations with more evenly distributed income. People living in poverty are less able to afford healthy food, spend time participating in physical activity, and pay for medical care that can reduce the risk of heart disease. The lack of insurance for those in poverty is another cause of health disparities relating to heart disease. Low-income individuals tend to face greater stress, and with low funds, many people turn to high levels of food consumption, smoking, and alcohol use as a way to cope. People living in poverty are also more likely to die from cancer than their more affluent peers because they do not have access to high quality cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment services. There is a close correlation between increased poverty and increased diabetes, as well. The reasons for the diabetes discrepancy are generally the same as those for heart disease and cancer; low-income individuals cannot afford healthy food or medication, and tend to have more stress in their day-to-day lives.

Environment

The neighborhoods and areas people live in, as well as their occupation make up the environment in which they exist. People living in poverty stricken neighborhoods are at a greater risk for heart disease the supermarkets in their area do not sell healthy foods, and there is increased availability of stores selling alcohol and tobacco than in more affluent parts of town. People living in rural areas are also more susceptible to heart disease, as well. An agriculturally based diet rich in fat and cholesterol, combined with an isolated environment in which there is limited access to health care and ways to distribute information creates a pattern in which people living in rural environments have higher levels of heart disease. Occupational cancer is one way in which the environment one works in can negatively affect their rate of disease. Employees exposed to smoke, asbestos, diesel fumes, paint, and chemicals in factories can develop cancer from their workplace. All of these jobs tend to be low-paying and typically held by low-status individuals. The decreased amount of healthy food in stores located in low-income areas also contributes to the increase rates of diabetes for persons living in those neighborhoods.

Education

The lower a person’s level of education, the higher their chance of being diagnosed with heart disease. People who have not graduated from high school have a 2.4% greater risk of dying than those who did graduate high school. Education level is also related to smoking, overeating, and not exercising, thus education also affects rates of cancer and diabetes. A lack of knowledge about the risk factors of these diseases, as well as the understanding of symptoms and when to go to the doctor greatly affects both the development of disease as well as the prognosis of it.