Obesity and socioeconomic status in Argentina

Background: In 2001 Argentina experienced the worst economic depression in the country?s history, yet few researchers have examined the nutritional status of Argentines vis-à-vis key socioeconomic indicators as the country recovered from its economic crisis. Methods: We used the 2009 National Survey of Risk Factors (ENFR) to examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) -- income and education -- and risk of being overweight or obese five years after the crisis. We estimated logistic regression models with weight as dependent variable and income, education, age, and gender as independent variables. Results: About 50% of the Argentine population 18 and older was overweight or obese in 2009. Low weight, while not high, was higher in women than in men. There were gender differences in the association between overweight/obesity and socioeconomic status. Among men, overweight increased as income and education increased, whereas among women the reverse was generally true. With obesity, while rates decreased overall with income and education among both genders, the lowest rates were found among the lowest and second lowest income groups of women and men, respectively. Conclusion: Findings are compatible with both high-income and low- and middle-income countries. As in high income countries, income and education appear to be overall protective of obesity, although this is not true for overweight. Among certain population subgroups, low weight rather than obesity may be the public health problem to be tackled. Argentina needs to tailor public health and social, including economic policies to fit a complex landscape of wealth and poverty to address the problem of overweight/obesity prevalent across a spectrum of income and educational levels.http://www.scopemed.org/?mno=34612publishedVersionFil: Peláez, Enrique. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas; Argentina.Fil: Monteverde, Malena. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad; Argentina.Fil: Celton, Dora. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad; Argentina.Fil: Chaufan, Claudia. University of California San Francisco. Institute for Health & Aging; Estados Unidos.Fil: Peláez, Enrique. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios sobre Cultura y Sociedad; Argentina.Fil: Monteverde, Malena. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Escuela de Graduados; Argentina.Fil: Celton, Dora. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas. Escuela de Graduados; Argentina.Demografí

COVID-19 vaccines and autoimmune disorders: A scoping review protocol

<abstract> <p>Two years into the global vaccination campaign, important questions about COVID-19 vaccines and autoimmune disorders have arisen. A growing number of reports have documented associations between vaccination and autoimmunity, and research is needed to elucidate the nature of these linkages as well as the mechanisms and causal directions (i.e., whether persons with no history of autoimmune disorders may experience them upon vaccination or persons with autoimmune disorders may experience exacerbation or new adverse events, autoimmune or not, post-vaccination). This scoping review will follow Arksey and O'Malley's framework, which is enhanced by Levac et al.'s team-based approach, to address the relationship between COVID-19 vaccinations and autoimmune disorders. Moreover, it will explore the evidence informing the consensus of care concerning COVID-19 vaccinations in people experiencing these disorders. Data from refereed articles and preprints will be synthesized through a thematic analysis. A subgroup analysis will compare the findings according to the previous existence of autoimmune disorders, presence of co-morbidities, vaccine type, and other potentially relevant factors. COVID-19 has triggered the largest vaccination campaign in history. Drug safety is critical to properly assess the balance of risks and benefits of any medical intervention. Our investigation should yield information useful to assist in clinical decision-making, policy development, and ethical medical practices.</p> </abstract&gt

Explanatory pluralism in the medical sciences: theory and practice

Explanatory pluralism is the view that the best form and level of explanation depends on the kind of question one seeks to answer by the explanation, and that in order to answer all questions in the best way possible, we need more than one form and level of explanation. In the first part of this article, we argue that explanatory pluralism holds for the medical sciences, at least in theory. However, in the second part of the article we show that medical research and practice is actually not fully and truly explanatory pluralist yet. Although the literature demonstrates a slowly growing interest in non-reductive explanations in medicine, the dominant approach in medicine is still methodologically reductionist. This implies that non-reductive explanations often do not get the attention they deserve. We argue that the field of medicine could benefit greatly by reconsidering its reductive tendencies and becoming fully and truly explanatory pluralist. Nonetheless, trying to achieve the right balance in the search for and application of reductive and non-reductive explanations will in any case be a difficult exercise

Health Narratives and Social Control in the Covid-19 Era

Stigmatizing health narratives, along with the specter of plague, have historically been used by authorities to justify the suppression of civil unrest and liberties. European Jews, blamed for the bubonic plague, were scapegoated to manage class struggles in the late Middle Ages. Chinese ‘New World’ immigrants, blamed for tuberculosis in the 19th century, were scapegoated by authorities as sources of societal decay. The early 20th century witnessed ‘tramps’ blamed for smallpox, which distracted the populace from capitalist exploitation. Finally, since 2020 groupings of diverse ethnicities, religions, classes, and political affiliations, coalescing around scepticism about, or resistance to, official Covid-19 policies, have been blamed for prolonging the crisis. These narratives, unleashing hate and violence, are alike in that they require a dehumanized “other”, an enemy that cannot be tolerated and must be “civilized”, “educated”, “reformed”, and often disciplined, isolated, or eliminated, to “protect” or “save” humanity. This project examines health narratives and social control, broadly understood. It draws primarily from the medical sciences and sociological theory, in addition to theories of media analysis, communication, and public opinion, to examine how messaging from dominant institutions shapes attitudes, social behaviours, and public policies towards groups construed, based on any identifiable feature, as threats to the social order. The basic assumption is that public policy, and very especially public health policy, is informed by not only the medical and related sciences but also by societal expectations, dominant values, conflicts of interest, and the imperative to secure its own institutional reproduction. It is hoped that a critical examination of narratives of health that reaches beyond the boundaries of “acceptable debate” can promote better health, greater respect for human dignity, and a more democratic governance

Case studies and human interest stories : testimonies and essays

The article investigates the impact of socio-economic factors on Type 2 diabetes in young people, concluding that social deprivation is driving the disparities in the distribution of risk. The thrifty genotype theory contends that a predisposition to diabetes and obesity might have developed over time as a genetic response to conditions of 'feast or famine'. However, there may not be much difference between racial and ethnic groups regarding the factors which put them at risk when social deprivation is factored in. Yet social deprivation rarely figures in the literature among the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes

Unraveling the “Cuban miracle”: A conversation with Dr. Enrique Beldarrain Chaple

An interview with a Cuban physician and professor of Epidemiology and Anthropology at the Medical University of Havana, Cuba, unravels so-called Cuban miracle, by laying out the history and foundations of a health system built on the principles of health equity and justice. The interview traces the beginning of the system to the Cuban revolution, briefly providing the social and public health background to this revolution, elaborates on the training of medical personnel and on the Cuban state policy of medical internationalism, and underscores that achieving a modicum of health justice in Cuba’s neighboring country will require freeing US health care from the chains of a profit driven system

How much can a large population study on genes, environments, their interactions and common diseases contribute to the health of the American people?

I offer a critical perspective on a large-scale population study on gene-environment interactions and common diseases proposed by the US Secretary of Health and Human Services' Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health, and Society (SACGHS). I argue that for scientific and policy reasons this and similar studies have little to add to current knowledge about how to prevent, treat, or decrease inequalities in common diseases, all of which are major claims of the proposal. I use diabetes as an exemplar of the diseases that the study purports to illuminate. I conclude that the question is not whether the study will meet expectations or whether the current emphasis on a genetic paradigm is real or imagined, desirable or not. Rather, the question is why, given the flaws of the science underwriting the study, its assumptions remain unchallenged. Future research should investigate the reasons for this immunity from criticism and for the popularity of this and similar projects among laypersons as well as among intellectuals.Type 2 diabetes Social inequalities in health Genetics Reaction norm Geneticization USA