Socioeconomic status and stress: Neuroendocrine pathways to disease

The biomedical model investigates diseases of the organism at the cellular level, and ignores the broader socioeconomic factors that affect health. This discursive analysis examines the physiological mechanism by which socioeconomic factors get inside the human body and make people susceptible to diseases. A survey of recent materials was carried out using PubMed database to identify peer-reviewed manuscripts that examine physiological reaction to stress and its connection to diseases. These studies reveal a complex relationship between socioeconomic status and chronic diseases.