Contributions of social epidemiology to clinical research on infectious diseases

Abstract

In the context of health promotion, epidemiology plays an important role. It emphasizes not only on control of diseases and their vectors, but also on improving the health of the population. Researches that focus on the themes of public health in general are frequently interested in investigating how social conditions affect and determine the population's health-disease process. This has generated a strong articulation between epidemiology and social sciences, emerging an epidemiological branch named by some scholars as social epidemiology. The focus of social epidemiology is studying how society and the different modes of social organization influence the health and well-being of individuals and social groups, enabling the incorporation of the social experiences to better understand how, where, and why health inequalities occur. This review article discusses and demonstrates the contributions of social epidemiology studies in clinical research studies on infectious diseases in order to develop a broader viewpoint of patients in conjunction with their system of relations and with illness production and health recovery.