Say a patient came to the E.R with chest pain. You will first address his Chest pain and potential MI. Then you will assess for risk factors like smoking, diabetes, HTN, lack of exercise, etc. Finally, you will look at underlying determinants of health such as poverty, culture, environment, etc.
Risk Factors
A risk factor is “‘an aspect or personal behavior or lifestyle, an environmental exposure, or an inborn or inherited characteristic, that, on the basis of epidemiologic evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition(s) considered important to prevent.’ ‘Risks that relate to health can also be thought of as “a probability of an adverse outcome, or a factor that raises this probability.'” Skolnik. Global Health 101
A risk factor is “any attribute, characteristic, or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury” Skolnik, Presentation.
Determinants of Health
Determinants of health are the interconnected factors that determine an individual’s health status. Examples of health determinants include personal and inborn features, socioeconomic status, culture, environment, educational attainment, health behaviors, childhood development, access to care, and government policy.
Social determinants are “the conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age and the wider set of forces and systems shaping the conditions of daily life.” Skolnik, Presentation.
“Health determinants refer to underlying characteristics of society that ultimately shape the health of individuals and communities. They can be thought of as the causes of the causes of ill health, or as ‘upstream factors’. Be careful, however: the term ‘determinant’ is not intended to imply inevitability or determinism; it comes from the Latin de termine, or “from the end” (i.e., the origin) of the causal chain.” med.uottawa.ca
When you get a history, you are essentially getting information that allows you to identify important risk factors for disease.
To me personally, risk factors seem to talk about things that are personal, something the patient does or doesn’t do that directly increases their risk of getting a particular disease. The exception is the genetic risk factors. Determinants of disease seem to be outside of the control of the patient –at least immediately — and more at a societal level. The exception here is inherited characteristics which are also considered determinants of health.
See the following link for additional information.
http://www.med.uottawa.ca/courses/epi6181/course_outline/Determinants.htm