Factors that influence health: An introduction

2 Age, sex and hereditary factors

In an attempt to move away from an exclusively biomedical approach to health towards one that does not equate health with healthcare, the significance of age, sex and hereditary factors have been somewhat overlooked in the last decade or so. However, more recently, and with considerable changes in science and technology, the importance of these factors in understanding inequalities and experiences of health and illness have, once again, come to the fore.