Ch. 21. Health and
Medicine
Medical Sociology
1
Today’s coming
attractions !!
 How does culture shape your health?
 What are you most likely to die from?
 How long will you live?
 What is the greatest preventable cause
of death?
2
How does the culture shape
your health?
 Social inequality
 Technology
3
What are you most likely to die
from?
 Heart disease
 Cancer
 Stroke
4
Are you in a high risk health
group?
 Men vs women?
 Young white affluent females?
 Anorexia
 Deaths among young people:
 African American males

Homicide
 Other young people

Accidents
5
How long will you live?
 76.9 years
6
What is the greatest
preventable cause of death?
 Smoking
 Effects:




Physically and psychologically addictive
Frequent minor illnesses
Increased prenatal death
Smoking related deaths
7
Are you between 15 and 25
years old?
 You are in the highest risk group for
sexually transmitted diseases.
 2/3 of STI’s are in people under 25 years
old.
8
HPV – Human papillomavirus
 HPV (cause of genital warts) is present
in 1 in 5 Americans over 12 years old
and in 1/3 of college women!
 Most common in people under 25 years
old.
 40 million in the U.S. are infected
 “Most sexually active people will get
HPV” – without knowing it.
9
HPV – Human papillomavirus
(cont.)
 About 50 types of HPV can cause genital
infections.
 Treated, but not cured
 Most infections go away by themselves
 Some types cause genital warts cause
cervical cancer.

Vaccine available – protects against 90%
of genital warts and 70% of cervical
cancers
10
Genital herpes
 Infects 1 in 5 adults (Now 1 in 4)
 50 Million U.S. adults
 70% of people who got herpes got it
from someone with no symptoms.
11
Chlamydia
 Most common infectious disease in US.
 3-5 million infected each year
12
Big ideas you can use!!
 Perhaps 1 in 3 people have or
will get a sexually transmitted
disease.
 Most do not know they have it.
 Some STD,s make others
easier to catch.

Eg. Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and
herpes makes HIV easier to get.
 Get tested before going to bed.
13
Aids worldwide
 Highest number of cases?
 Sub-Saharan Africa
 Most rapidly rising rate?
 Thailand
14
High risk behaviors
 IV drug use
 Using drugs that impair judgment
 Anal sex
15
Big ideas you can use!!
 Do not smoke
 Use condoms
 Remember; Most people with sexually
transmitted diseases have no symptoms.
 Assume your partner may have an
infection until tested.
16
Medical ethics
 Euthanasia

Assisting in the death of a person suffering
from a terminal illness.
17
Human genetics research
 Stop disease before it develops
 Information about their future medical
condition
 Health profile of a future child.
18
Tomorrow’s coming
attractions!!
 World population changes
 Ways of measuring population
 Age-sex pyramids (Not in Egypt)
 Ideas about population change
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