Civilization disease
A disease of civilization (also lifestyle disease ;. English lifestyle disease ) is an umbrella term for certain diseases or disease states that in industrialized countries are more common than in developing countries . The term is based on the assumption that the risk of illness of the people concerned depends essentially on the prevailing living conditions in modern (“civilized”) society.
background
Improved hygiene , medical progress in the prevention (e.g. vaccinations ) and therapy (e.g. antibiotic therapy ) of diseases as well as a secure food supply are considered to be essential achievements of civilization . These factors have led to the fact that numerous diseases that were common in pre-industrial times are much rarer today and, above all, are less likely to lead to death. At the same time, the incidence of diseases that were hardly known in pre-industrial times increased.
Since it is not civilization as such, i.e. the establishment of a bourgeois order and participation in social-technical and medical progress, but rather certain lifestyles , behaviors and environmental factors common in industrialized countries that have been identified as hazardous to health, the term disease of civilization is to a large extent derived from the Definition of the term "civilization" dependent. However, it is common.
The term civilization disease, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, was first used to describe neurasthenia by the New York neurologist George M. Beard .
Classification of an illness as a disease of civilization
In the literature there is no consensus as to which diseases are to be assigned to the diseases of civilization. There is therefore no complete and closed list of the diseases of civilization. However, the following diseases are often mentioned:
- Caries
- Heart and vascular diseases
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus
- high blood pressure
- Overweight and obesity
- gout
- some allergies
- certain types of cancer (e.g. lung cancer , colon cancer )
- certain skin diseases (e.g. neurodermatitis , acne )
- Eating disorders ( anorexia nervosa , bulimia nervosa )
- certain psychiatric diseases and neurotic symptoms (depression, anxiety)
Many other diseases are said to be related to the prevailing conditions in industrialized countries, without this having been scientifically proven in individual cases.
Causes of the diseases of civilization
There is just as little agreement about the exact causes of the diseases of civilization as there is about the diseases of civilization themselves. What is certain is that it is not a single factor, but rather a combination of genetic predisposition , lifestyle and environmental factors that ultimately leads to the disease.
Largely undisputed risk factors for the occurrence of some of the civilization diseases mentioned above are:
- Sugar consumption (sweets, groceries, beverages)
- Cigarette smoke / nicotine
- alcohol
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Over and malnutrition
- Environmental toxins
- Noise pollution
- stress
- social factors (e.g. unemployment , loneliness)
- Excessive hygiene (see hygiene hypothesis of the development of allergies )
- certain norms and ideals (e.g. pressure to perform, ideal of slimness)
- media overstimulation
Depending on the disease, other factors are also discussed, but in some cases only little researched and the subject of ideological debates. See the entries for the individual diseases.
The risk factors can only partly explain the increased occurrence of certain diseases in the industrialized countries, since risky behavior, e.g. B. nicotine and alcohol consumption, and environmental pollution also occur in countries with little industrialization. One possible explanation for this is that many diseases of civilization only appear at an advanced age, so that they hardly appear in countries with a lower life expectancy because a large number of people die from other diseases beforehand, e.g. B. infectious diseases ( AIDS , malaria , tuberculosis ).
Another reason could be that due to the poor medical care in non-industrialized countries, certain diseases can hardly be diagnosed and therefore do not appear in the statistics .
Therapy of civilization diseases
The therapy of civilization diseases includes, among other things, the reduction of the risk factors mentioned, but is otherwise specifically geared to the individual disease (see the entries for the individual diseases).
See also
literature
- Daniel E. Liebermann. Our body. History, present, future. S. Fischer. 2015
- Volker Roelcke : disease of civilization. In: Encyclopedia of Medical History. Edited by Werner E. Gerabek , Bernhard D. Haage, Gundolf Keil and Wolfgang Wegner, Walter de Gruyter, Berlin and New York 2005 ( ISBN 3-11-015714-4 ), p. 1531 f.