Social disadvantage and cardiovascular disease risk

Abstract

In western societies there is a persistent social patterning of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Social disadvantaged (SD) people are at greater risk of CVD than people in more advantageous positions. Both individual and contextual risk factors are of importance. Several models have been put forward to understand the relationship between social disadvantage and CVD risk. The concept psychosocial reflects psychological processes that are linked to the social environment and directs attention to both behavioral and endogenous biological responses to human interactions. The physical and social environment shapes health behaviors as health behaviors are observed socially patterned. Today, one must expect that clinicians are aware of the fact that SD increases CVD risk and thus manage to think beyond traditional individual-based CVD risk assessment.