Primary prevention of diseases of mass occurrence

A disease of civilization is a disease whose change in the population is associated with changes in the way civilization exists. The developmental shift of civilization leads initially to the transformation of risk and subsequently to the observed transformation of the epidemiological characteristics of the disease.

Lifestyle and the development of chronic diseases
A number of factors contribute to the development of diseases associated with civilizational progress. Certainly one of them is increasing life expectancy. Another factor is undoubtedly the 'products of civilization. Undoubtedly, the plague of the postmodern world is the consequences of obesity related to hypertension and type 2 diabetes (metabolic syndrome) and tumors.

Diseases of mass occurrence include several groups of diseases:
 * infectious diseases;


 * atherosclerosis and its complications;
 * injuries;
 * substance abuse;
 * tumors;
 * alergies;
 * stress.

Infectious diseases are capable of causing epidemics or pandemics. Nevertheless, they are often not included in the diseases of civilization. This includes, for example, HIV infection or infectious hepatitis.

Aterosclerosis is a chronic degenerative disease of the vascular wall and its incidence is still increasing. It is associated with other diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia and others.

injuries they are related on the one hand to the development of transport, industry, agriculture or other sectors, accidents at work and, last but not least, war technologies.

substance abuse it is one of the global risk factors, as the consumption of e.g. tobacco or spirits is constantly increasing.

tumors they arise both from the genetic load in families and from the environment.

The incidence of allergies is apparently increasing in connection with insufficient exposure to natural antigens in early childhood and at the same time exposure to allergens and foreign substances.

index DALY
thumb|Summary index DALY in 2004 (according to WHO) The DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Years) indicator was introduced in 2000 to show the impact of a certain disease on the economic activity of the population. The number represents the number of years of life affected by the disease. It is traditionally given in relative numbers (most often per 100 000 inhabitants).

Other indicators (e.g. YLL - Years of Life Lost, YDL - Years Lived with Disability, QALY - Quality-adjusted life years) do not sufficiently depict the overall impact of the disease on the population.

DALY can nevertheless be calculated as the sum of YLL and YDL:


 * DALY = YLL + YDL

Risk factors
Among the controllable risk factors of diseases of civilization we include:
 * smoking;
 * excessive alcohol consumption;
 * risky eating habits;
 * it is impossible to say whether the increasing incidence of certain diseases is caused by an excess of some substance in food or, conversely, by a lack of another,
 * environmental factors (e.g. social factors – stress, crime, war).

Uncontrollables are, of course, age (the average life expectancy is constantly increasing), gender, genetic make-up (thanks to modern medicine, even people who would not have survived under normal circumstances survive and have offspring).

Prevention of diseases of civilization
The diseases of civilization are multifactorial diseases. The primary prevention of diseases of civilization consists in the elimination or reduction of risk factors. The main ones include adjusting lifestyle and eating habits. Emphasis should be placed on the prevention of the main groups of diseases (cardiovascular diseases, tumors, infectious diseases and others).

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