Final answer:
The determinants of health explain health disparities through a range of factors including social status, environment, behaviors, and healthcare access. Social epidemiology studies these aspects to understand the distribution of health and disease. While financial resources usually correlate with better health, exceptions exist depending on wealth distribution and access to healthcare.
Step-by-step explanation:
The determinants of health are diverse factors that explain why some individuals and groups have better or worse health outcomes. These determinants include a range of social, economic, environmental, genetic, and behavioral factors. Among the factors contributing to disparities in health among racial, ethnic, and gender groups in the United States are access to healthcare, socioeconomic status, education levels, environmental exposures, and lifestyle choices.
Social epidemiology helps us understand these patterns by studying the distribution and determinants of health and disease across different populations. Factors like diet, exercise, and risky behaviors, as well as healthcare expenditures, can also profoundly influence health outcomes such as life expectancy. Moreover, geography plays a role in health, where conditions of life and available care can determine patterns of health and disease.
Money and health are interrelated because financial resources can afford better healthcare, nutrition, and living conditions. However, there are exceptions where countries with similar incomes are not equally healthy, due to factors such as the distribution of wealth, access to healthcare, or prevalence of diseases.