Reviewing Determinants of Health

While health research has made great progress in understanding diseases and innovative new treatments, research results also point to a bigger picture – one that looks at health as being determined by complex interactions between social and economic factors, the physical environment and individual behaviour. Laurie Bentz’s interest in these determinants of health was the motivation for her SEARCH V project.

Laurie is a Research and Evaluation Officer and Health Promotion Facilitator with Aspen Regional Health and trained as a Registered Dietitian. She set out to investigate the relationship between income and child obesity. Her research review included accessing six online databases, numerous grey literature sources and handsearching reference lists. From her research, she concluded that it is unclear whether income is an important contributor to child obesity.

“I was surprised at the outcome, I thought I would find a relationship,” says Laurie. “It’s important to note that my conclusion does not mean the relationship does not exist. There was a lack of consistency between studies for income and body mass index definitions, and in controlling for confounding factors. There’s a need for further research with adequate population-based samples and controls for known confounders.”

Despite finding no clear relationship between income and childhood obesity that would provide a mandate for intervention, Laurie says one of the biggest benefits of her project is that it has highlighted the determinants of health within the region. “Although the determinants of health are well-known, actually applying the determinants to practice is challenging. How do we work with community partners to address inequities in health? What role can the health system play in improving health outcomes for children?

Those are the big questions we need to tackle.”