City, urban, rural, or suburban areas which are characterized by severe economic deprivation and by accompanying physical and social decay.

Social and economic factors that characterize the individual or group within the social structure.

Revenues or receipts accruing from business enterprise, labor, or invested capital.

Elements of residence that characterize a population. They are applicable in determining need for and utilization of health services.

Size and composition of the family.

Variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by socioeconomic characteristics such as age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures.

Organized efforts by communities or organizations to improve the health and well-being of the child.

A stratum of people with similar position and prestige; includes social stratification. Social class is measured by criteria such as education, occupation, and income.

Enumerations of populations usually recording identities of all persons in every place of residence with age or date of birth, sex, occupation, national origin, language, marital status, income, relation to head of household, information on the dwelling place, education, literacy, health-related data (e.g., permanent disability), etc. The census or "numbering of the people" is mentioned several times in the Old Testament. Among the Romans, censuses were intimately connected with the enumeration of troops before and after battle and probably a military necessity. (From Last, A Dictionary of Epidemiology, 3d ed; Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine, 4th ed, p66, p119)

The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others.

The inhabitants of a city or town, including metropolitan areas and suburban areas.

Groups of persons whose range of options is severely limited, who are frequently subjected to COERCION in their DECISION MAKING, or who may be compromised in their ability to give INFORMED CONSENT.

Financial assistance to impoverished persons for the essentials of living through federal, state or local government programs.

The production and movement of food items from point of origin to use or consumption.

Countries in the process of change with economic growth, that is, an increase in production, per capita consumption, and income. The process of economic growth involves better utilization of natural and human resources, which results in a change in the social, political, and economic structures.

The inhabitants of rural areas or of small towns classified as rural.

Persons living in the United States having origins in any of the black groups of Africa.

Organized institutions which provide services to ameliorate conditions of need or social pathology in the community.

The state of society as it exists or in flux. While it usually refers to society as a whole in a specified geographical or political region, it is applicable also to restricted strata of a society.

An interactive process whereby members of a community are concerned for the equality and rights of all.

The science of utilization, distribution, and consumption of services and materials.

The status of health in urban populations.

Diseases that are underfunded and have low name recognition but are major burdens in less developed countries. The World Health Organization has designated six tropical infectious diseases as being neglected in industrialized countries that are endemic in many developing countries (HELMINTHIASIS; LEPROSY; LYMPHATIC FILARIASIS; ONCHOCERCIASIS; SCHISTOSOMIASIS; and TRACHOMA).

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to health and disease in a human population within a given geographic area.

The level of health of the individual, group, or population as subjectively assessed by the individual or by more objective measures.

Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services.

Individuals whose ancestral origins are in the continent of Europe.

Payment by individuals or their family for health care services which are not covered by a third-party payer, either insurance or medical assistance.

An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, or inborn or inherited characteristic, which, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.

Educational attainment or level of education of individuals.

An international organization whose members include most of the sovereign nations of the world with headquarters in New York City. The primary objectives of the organization are to maintain peace and security and to achieve international cooperation in solving international economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian problems.

A course or method of action selected, usually by a government, from among alternatives to guide and determine present and future decisions.

An acute or prolonged illness usually considered to be life-threatening or with the threat of serious residual disability. Treatment may be radical and is frequently costly.

A method of analyzing the variation in utilization of health care in small geographic or demographic areas. It often studies, for example, the usage rates for a given service or procedure in several small areas, documenting the variation among the areas. By comparing high- and low-use areas, the analysis attempts to determine whether there is a pattern to such use and to identify variables that are associated with and contribute to the variation.

Persons living in the United States of Mexican (MEXICAN AMERICANS), Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central or South American, or other Spanish culture or origin. The concept does not include Brazilian Americans or Portuguese Americans.

Groups of individuals whose putative ancestry is from native continental populations based on similarities in physical appearance.

The aggregate of social and cultural institutions, forms, patterns, and processes that influence the life of an individual or community.

A voluntary contract between two or more dentists who may or may not share responsibility for the care of patients, with proportional sharing of profits and losses.

The amounts spent by individuals, groups, nations, or private or public organizations for total health care and/or its various components. These amounts may or may not be equivalent to the actual costs (HEALTH CARE COSTS) and may or may not be shared among the patient, insurers, and/or employers.

A group of people with a common cultural heritage that sets them apart from others in a variety of social relationships.

Living facilities for humans.

The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.

A social science dealing with group relationships, patterns of collective behavior, and social organization.

Studies in which the presence or absence of disease or other health-related variables are determined in each member of the study population or in a representative sample at one particular time. This contrasts with LONGITUDINAL STUDIES which are followed over a period of time.

Individuals or groups with no or inadequate health insurance coverage. Those falling into this category usually comprise three primary groups: the medically indigent (MEDICAL INDIGENCY); those whose clinical condition makes them medically uninsurable; and the working uninsured.

A severe gangrenous process occurring predominantly in debilitated and malnourished children, especially in underdeveloped countries. It typically begins as a small vesicle or ulcer on the gingiva that rapidly becomes necrotic and spreads to produce extensive destruction of the buccal and labial mucosa and tissues of the face, which may result in severe disfigurement and even death. Various bacteria have been implicated in the etiology. (Dorland, 27th ed)

All of Africa except Northern Africa (AFRICA, NORTHERN).

The study of the social determinants and social effects of health and disease, and of the social structure of medical institutions or professions.

The legal relation between an entity (individual, group, corporation, or-profit, secular, government) and an object. The object may be corporeal, such as equipment, or completely a creature of law, such as a patent; it may be movable, such as an animal, or immovable, such as a building.

An infant during the first month after birth.

The status of health in rural populations.

Statistical models which describe the relationship between a qualitative dependent variable (that is, one which can take only certain discrete values, such as the presence or absence of a disease) and an independent variable. A common application is in epidemiology for estimating an individual's risk (probability of a disease) as a function of a given risk factor.

The absence of certain expected and acceptable cultural phenomena in the environment which results in the failure of the individual to communicate and respond in the most appropriate manner within the context of society. Language acquisition and language use are commonly used in assessing this concept.

The Christian faith, practice, or system of the Catholic Church, specifically the Roman Catholic, the Christian church that is characterized by a hierarchic structure of bishops and priests in which doctrinal and disciplinary authority are dependent upon apostolic succession, with the pope as head of the episcopal college. (From Webster, 3d ed; American Heritage Dictionary, 2d college ed)

The measurement of the health status for a given population using a variety of indices, including morbidity, mortality, and available health resources.

The science, art or practice of cultivating soil, producing crops, and raising livestock.

Insurance providing coverage of medical, surgical, or hospital care in general or for which there is no specific heading.

Continuous sequential changes which occur in the physiological and psychological functions during the life-time of an individual.

Statistical interpretation and description of a population with reference to distribution, composition, or structure.

The science dealing with the earth and its life, especially the description of land, sea, and air and the distribution of plant and animal life, including humanity and human industries with reference to the mutual relations of these elements. (From Webster, 3d ed)

Decisions, usually developed by government policymakers, for determining present and future objectives pertaining to the health care system.

Situations affecting a significant number of people, that are believed to be sources of difficulty or threaten the stability of the community, and that require programs of amelioration.

The protection, preservation, restoration, and rational use of all resources in the total environment.

The state of being engaged in an activity or service for wages or salary.

Conversations with an individual or individuals held in order to obtain information about their background and other personal biographical data, their attitudes and opinions, etc. It includes school admission or job interviews.

The state of not being engaged in a gainful occupation.

A republic in eastern Africa, south of ETHIOPIA, west of SOMALIA with TANZANIA to its south, and coastline on the Indian Ocean. Its capital is Nairobi.

Planning that has the goals of improving health, improving accessibility to health services, and promoting efficiency in the provision of services and resources on a comprehensive basis for a whole community. (From Facts on File Dictionary of Health Care Management, 1988, p299)

Studies in which variables relating to an individual or group of individuals are assessed over a period of time.

Female parents, human or animal.

Acquisition of knowledge as a result of instruction in a formal course of study.

Biological adaptation, such as the rise of EPINEPHRINE in response to exercise, stress or perceived danger, followed by a fall of epinephrine during RELAXATION. Allostasis is the achievement of stability by turning on and turning off the allostatic systems including the IMMUNE SYSTEM; the AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM and NEUROENDOCRINE SYSTEMS.

Individuals whose ancestral origins are in the continent of Africa.

An imbalanced nutritional status resulted from insufficient intake of nutrients to meet normal physiological requirement.

Organized services to provide health care for children.

Healthy People Programs are a set of health objectives to be used by governments, communities, professional organizations, and others to help develop programs to improve health. It builds on initiatives pursued over the past two decades beginning with the 1979 Surgeon General's Report, Healthy People, Healthy People 2000: National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives, and Healthy People 2010. These established national health objectives and served as the basis for the development of state and community plans. These are administered by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP). Similar programs are conducted by other national governments.

The branch of medicine concerned with diseases, mainly of parasitic origin, common in tropical and subtropical regions.

Organized efforts by communities or organizations to improve the health and well-being of the mother.

A natural, adoptive, or substitute parent of a dependent child, who lives with only one parent. The single parent may live with or visit the child. The concept includes the never-married, as well as the divorced and widowed.

A republic in southern Africa, the southernmost part of Africa. It has three capitals: Pretoria (administrative), Cape Town (legislative), and Bloemfontein (judicial). Officially the Republic of South Africa since 1960, it was called the Union of South Africa 1910-1960.

Activities concerned with governmental policies, functions, etc.

All deaths reported in a given population.

The desire for FOOD generated by a sensation arising from the lack of food in the STOMACH.

A geographical area of the United States with no definite boundaries but comprising northeastern Alabama, northwestern Georgia, northwestern South Carolina, western North Carolina, eastern Kentucky, eastern Tennessee, western Virginia, West Virginia, western Maryland, southwestern Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, and southern New York.

A province of eastern Canada. Its capital is Quebec. The region belonged to France from 1627 to 1763 when it was lost to the British. The name is from the Algonquian quilibek meaning the place where waters narrow, referring to the gradually narrowing channel of the St. Lawrence or to the narrows of the river at Cape Diamond. (From Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, 1988, p993 & Room, Brewer's Dictionary of Names, 1992, p440)

The process of leaving one's country to establish residence in a foreign country.

The geographic area of Latin America in general and when the specific country or countries are not indicated. It usually includes Central America, South America, Mexico, and the islands of the Caribbean.

The concept concerned with all aspects of providing and distributing health services to a patient population.

A social group consisting of parents or parent substitutes and children.

Health services required by a population or community as well as the health services that the population or community is able and willing to pay for.

The planned upgrading of a deteriorating urban area, involving rebuilding, renovation, or restoration. It frequently refers to programs of major demolition and rebuilding of blighted areas.

Procedures for finding the mathematical function which best describes the relationship between a dependent variable and one or more independent variables. In linear regression (see LINEAR MODELS) the relationship is constrained to be a straight line and LEAST-SQUARES ANALYSIS is used to determine the best fit. In logistic regression (see LOGISTIC MODELS) the dependent variable is qualitative rather than continuously variable and LIKELIHOOD FUNCTIONS are used to find the best relationship. In multiple regression, the dependent variable is considered to depend on more than a single independent variable.

Child who has lost both parents through death or desertion.

Number of deaths of children between one year of age to 12 years of age in a given population.

Postnatal deaths from BIRTH to 365 days after birth in a given population. Postneonatal mortality represents deaths between 28 days and 365 days after birth (as defined by National Center for Health Statistics). Neonatal mortality represents deaths from birth to 27 days after birth.

A set of techniques used when variation in several variables has to be studied simultaneously. In statistics, multivariate analysis is interpreted as any analytic method that allows simultaneous study of two or more dependent variables.

Children with mental or physical disabilities that interfere with usual activities of daily living and that may require accommodation or intervention.

The development and establishment of environmental conditions favorable to the health of the public.

The area that lies between continental North and South America and comprises the Caribbean Sea, the West Indies, and the adjacent mainland regions of southern Mexico, Central America, Colombia, and Venezuela.

Individual or group aggressive behavior which is socially non-acceptable, turbulent, and often destructive. It is precipitated by frustrations, hostility, prejudices, etc.

Disorders caused by nutritional imbalance, either overnutrition or undernutrition, occurring in children ages 2 to 12 years.

Stress wherein emotional factors predominate.

Generally refers to the amount of protection available and the kind of loss which would be paid for under an insurance contract with an insurer. (Slee & Slee, Health Care Terms, 2d ed)

Systematic gathering of data for a particular purpose from various sources, including questionnaires, interviews, observation, existing records, and electronic devices. The process is usually preliminary to statistical analysis of the data.

A republic in southern Africa, east of ZAMBIA and BOTSWANA and west of MOZAMBIQUE. Its capital is Harare. It was formerly called Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia.

Branch of medicine concerned with the prevention and control of disease and disability, and the promotion of physical and mental health of the population on the international, national, state, or municipal level.

Social welfare organizations with programs designed to assist individuals in need.

A preconceived judgment made without factual basis.

A violation of the criminal law, i.e., a breach of the conduct code specifically sanctioned by the state, which through its administrative agencies prosecutes offenders and imposes and administers punishments. The concept includes unacceptable actions whether prosecuted or going unpunished.

The continuous sequential physiological and psychological maturing of an individual from birth up to but not including ADOLESCENCE.

The relating of causes to the effects they produce. Causes are termed necessary when they must always precede an effect and sufficient when they initiate or produce an effect. Any of several factors may be associated with the potential disease causation or outcome, including predisposing factors, enabling factors, precipitating factors, reinforcing factors, and risk factors.

Food or financial assistance for food given to those in need.

The rights of the individual to cultural, social, economic, and educational opportunities as provided by society, e.g., right to work, right to education, and right to social security.

The concept pertaining to the health status of inhabitants of the world.

People who leave their place of residence in one country and settle in a different country.

Performing the role of a parent by care-giving, nurturance, and protection of the child by a natural or substitute parent. The parent supports the child by exercising authority and through consistent, empathic, appropriate behavior in response to the child's needs. PARENTING differs from CHILD REARING in that in child rearing the emphasis is on the act of training or bringing up the children and the interaction between the parent and child, while parenting emphasizes the responsibility and qualities of exemplary behavior of the parent.

A subgroup having special characteristics within a larger group, often bound together by special ties which distinguish it from the larger group.

The process whereby a society changes from a rural to an urban way of life. It refers also to the gradual increase in the proportion of people living in urban areas.

Federal program, created by Public Law 89-97, Title XIX, a 1965 amendment to the Social Security Act, administered by the states, that provides health care benefits to indigent and medically indigent persons.

Amounts charged to the patient as payer for health care services.

The interchange of goods or commodities, especially on a large scale, between different countries or between populations within the same country. It includes trade (the buying, selling, or exchanging of commodities, whether wholesale or retail) and business (the purchase and sale of goods to make a profit). (From Random House Unabridged Dictionary, 2d ed, p411, p2005 & p283)

Maleness or femaleness as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from SEX CHARACTERISTICS, anatomical or physiological manifestations of sex, and from SEX DISTRIBUTION, the number of males and females in given circumstances.

Ongoing scrutiny of a population (general population, study population, target population, etc.), generally using methods distinguished by their practicability, uniformity, and frequently their rapidity, rather than by complete accuracy.

It is the study of social phenomena which characterize the learned, shared, and transmitted social activities of particular ethnic groups with focus on the causes, consequences, and complexities of human social and cultural variability.

Those funds disbursed for facilities and equipment, particularly those related to the delivery of health care.

Significant decline in economic activity spread across the economy, lasting more than a few months, normally visible in real gross domestic product, real income, employment, industrial production, and wholesale-retail sales. (National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, www.nber.org/cycles.html, accessed 4/23/2009)

The frequency of different ages or age groups in a given population. The distribution may refer to either how many or what proportion of the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

The area of a nation's economy that is tax-supported and under government control.

The science of controlling or modifying those conditions, influences, or forces surrounding man which relate to promoting, establishing, and maintaining health.

State of the body in relation to the consumption and utilization of nutrients.

Statistical measures of utilization and other aspects of the provision of health care services including hospitalization and ambulatory care.

Organized groups serving in advisory capacities related to health planning activities.

Countries that have reached a level of economic achievement through an increase of production, per capita income and consumption, and utilization of natural and human resources.

Interactional process combining investigation, discussion, and agreement by a number of people in the preparation and carrying out of a program to ameliorate conditions of need or social pathology in the community. It usually involves the action of a formal political, legal, or recognized voluntary body.

The geographic area of the southeastern region of the United States in general or when the specific state or states are not included. The states usually included in this region are Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, West Virginia, and Virginia.

Encouraging consumer behaviors most likely to optimize health potentials (physical and psychosocial) through health information, preventive programs, and access to medical care.

The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH.

Computer systems capable of assembling, storing, manipulating, and displaying geographically referenced information, i.e. data identified according to their locations.

The obtaining and management of funds for institutional needs and responsibility for fiscal affairs.

A systematic collection of factual data pertaining to the nutritional status of a human population within a given geographic area. Data from these surveys are used in preparing NUTRITION ASSESSMENTS.

Support systems that provide assistance and encouragement to individuals with physical or emotional disabilities in order that they may better cope. Informal social support is usually provided by friends, relatives, or peers, while formal assistance is provided by churches, groups, etc.

Includes the spectrum of human immunodeficiency virus infections that range from asymptomatic seropositivity, thru AIDS-related complex (ARC), to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

Criteria to determine eligibility of patients for medical care programs and services.

Housing subsidized by tax funds, usually intended for low income persons or families.

Pregnancy in human adolescent females under the age of 19.

Any group of three or more full-time dentists, organized in a legally recognized entity for the provision of dental care, sharing space, equipment, personnel and records for both patient care and business management, and who have a predetermined arrangement for the distribution of income.

Facilities provided for human excretion, often with accompanying handwashing facilities.

Age as a constituent element or influence contributing to the production of a result. It may be applicable to the cause or the effect of a circumstance. It is used with human or animal concepts but should be differentiated from AGING, a physiological process, and TIME FACTORS which refers only to the passage of time.

Social process whereby the values, attitudes, or institutions of society, such as education, family, religion, and industry become modified. It includes both the natural process and action programs initiated by members of the community.

Services for the diagnosis and treatment of disease and the maintenance of health.

The quality or state of relating to or affecting two or more nations. (After Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary, 10th ed)

Behaviors expressed by individuals to protect, maintain or promote their health status. For example, proper diet, and appropriate exercise are activities perceived to influence health status. Life style is closely associated with health behavior and factors influencing life style are socioeconomic, educational, and cultural.

Those occurrences, including social, psychological, and environmental, which require an adjustment or effect a change in an individual's pattern of living.

Preferentially rated health-related activities or functions to be used in establishing health planning goals. This may refer specifically to PL93-641.

Any type of research that employs nonnumeric information to explore individual or group characteristics, producing findings not arrived at by statistical procedures or other quantitative means. (Qualitative Inquiry: A Dictionary of Terms Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1997)

All organized methods of funding.

The science dealing with the establishment and maintenance of health in the individual and the group. It includes the conditions and practices conducive to health. (Webster, 3d ed)

The statistical manipulation of hierarchically and non-hierarchically nested data. It includes clustered data, such as a sample of subjects within a group of schools. Prevalent in the social, behavioral sciences, and biomedical sciences, both linear and nonlinear regression models are applied.

Predetermined sets of questions used to collect data - clinical data, social status, occupational group, etc. The term is often applied to a self-completed survey instrument.

A collective expression for all behavior patterns acquired and socially transmitted through symbols. Culture includes customs, traditions, and language.

The circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age, as well as the systems put in place to deal with illness. These circumstances are in turn shaped by a wider set of forces: economics, social policies, and politics (http://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/).

Human females as cultural, psychological, sociological, political, and economic entities.

Diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive health services provided for individuals in the community.

Federal, state, or local government organized methods of financial assistance.

The number of males and females in a given population. The distribution may refer to how many men or women or what proportion of either in the group. The population is usually patients with a specific disease but the concept is not restricted to humans and is not restricted to medicine.

The absence of appropriate stimuli in the physical or social environment which are necessary for the emotional, social, and intellectual development of the individual.

The systematic surveying, mapping, charting, and description of specific geographical sites, with reference to the physical features that were presumed to influence health and disease. Medical topography should be differentiated from EPIDEMIOLOGY in that the former emphasizes geography whereas the latter emphasizes disease outbreaks.

The social institution involving legal and/or religious sanction whereby individuals are joined together.

Differential treatment or unequal access to opportunities, based on group membership such as origin or ethnicity.

Medical services for which no payment is received. Uncompensated care includes charity care and bad debts.

A philosophically coherent set of propositions (for example, utilitarianism) which attempts to provide general norms for the guidance and evaluation of moral conduct. (from Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, 4th ed)

Time period from 1801 through 1900 of the common era.

An acquired defect of cellular immunity associated with infection by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a CD4-positive T-lymphocyte count under 200 cells/microliter or less than 14% of total lymphocytes, and increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and malignant neoplasms. Clinical manifestations also include emaciation (wasting) and dementia. These elements reflect criteria for AIDS as defined by the CDC in 1993.

Prepared food that is ready to eat or partially prepared food that has a final preparation time of a few minutes or less.

A geographic area defined and served by a health program or institution.

Any substances taken in by the body that provide nourishment.

The condition in which individuals are financially unable to access adequate medical care without depriving themselves and their dependents of food, clothing, shelter, and other essentials of living.

The state wherein the person is well adjusted.