- Preface to the fifth edition
- Introduction to Volume 1: The scope of public health
- Introduction to Volume 2: The methods of public health
- Introduction to Volume 3: The practice of public health
- List of contributors
- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies
- Section 4 Public health law and ethics
- Section 5 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 6 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- Section 7 Social science techniques
- Section 8 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 9 Major health problems
- 9.1 Gene–environment interactions and public health
- 9.2 Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
- 9.3 Neoplasms
- 9.4 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma
- 9.5 Obesity
- 9.6 The epidemiology and prevention of diabetes mellitus
- 9.7 Public mental health
- 9.8 Dental public health
- 9.9 Musculoskeletal diseases
- 9.10 Neurologic diseases, epidemiology, and public health
- 9.11 The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
- 9.12 Sexually transmitted infections
- 9.13 Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- 9.14 Tuberculosis
- 9.15 Malaria
- 9.16 Chronic hepatitis and other liver disease
- 9.17 Emerging and re-emerging infections
- Section 10 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 11 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 12 Public health functions
- Index
(p. 957) Gene–environment interactions and public health
- Chapter:
- (p. 957) Gene–environment interactions and public health
- Author(s):
Paolo Vineis
and Rodolfo Saracci
- DOI:
- 10.1093/med/9780199218707.003.0058
This chapter discusses the history of the establishment of the role of genes in the hereditary causation of disease. It also covers the present day understanding of gene-environment interactions, and finally looks at public health applications and perspectives concerning this aspect of biomedicine.
is a large consensus among scientists that only a minor fraction of diseases, of the order of about 5 per cent, is monogenic while the vast majority of cases are due to the interplay or ‘interaction’ of genetic and environmental factors, the latter being often dominant.
A number of potential public health applications flowing from the investigation of gene-environment interactions may be imagined, the common element of which is by definition the identification of subjects carrying different gene variants through genetic testing within families already known to be at high risk of disease or genetic screening in the general population The former is well established within clinical genetics (though the new developments may pose new specific problems) while the latter opens perspectives worth discussion.
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- Preface to the fifth edition
- Introduction to Volume 1: The scope of public health
- Introduction to Volume 2: The methods of public health
- Introduction to Volume 3: The practice of public health
- List of contributors
- Section 1 The development of the discipline of public health
- Section 2 Determinants of health and disease
- Section 3 Public health policies
- Section 4 Public health law and ethics
- Section 5 Information systems and sources of intelligence
- Section 6 Epidemiological and biostatistical approaches
- Section 7 Social science techniques
- Section 8 Environmental and occupational health sciences
- Section 9 Major health problems
- 9.1 Gene–environment interactions and public health
- 9.2 Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
- 9.3 Neoplasms
- 9.4 Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma
- 9.5 Obesity
- 9.6 The epidemiology and prevention of diabetes mellitus
- 9.7 Public mental health
- 9.8 Dental public health
- 9.9 Musculoskeletal diseases
- 9.10 Neurologic diseases, epidemiology, and public health
- 9.11 The transmissible spongiform encephalopathies
- 9.12 Sexually transmitted infections
- 9.13 Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome
- 9.14 Tuberculosis
- 9.15 Malaria
- 9.16 Chronic hepatitis and other liver disease
- 9.17 Emerging and re-emerging infections
- Section 10 Prevention and control of public health hazards
- Section 11 Public health needs of population groups
- Section 12 Public health functions
- Index