This week a public opinion poll was released by NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health asking people to list the factors most likely to cause ill health in adults. The top five included lack of access to high-quality medical care (42%), and viruses or bacteria (40%)—not a surprise—but also such socio-economic factors as personal behavior (40%), high stress (37%), and exposure to air, water, or chemical pollution (35%). And a majority (54%) said that being abused or neglected in childhood is an extremely important risk factor for ill health later in life.
Robert J. Blendon, Richard L. Menschel Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, led the poll and recently talked to RWJF Media Director Catherine Arnst about some of the key results. (Both questions and answers were edited for clarity)
[For more of this story, written by Catherine Arnst, go to http://www.rwjf.org/en/blogs/c...l_people_worrya.html]
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