Reconceptualising precision public health

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Social Epidemiology
• Health Equity Research

Background:

• Precision public health risks mirroring precision medicine, focusing on individual-level interventions rather than population-level determinants.
• Existing approaches may not fully address the root causes of health inequities.
• Social position is a critical, yet often under-examined, determinant of health outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel framework for precision public health grounded in public health principles.
• To integrate multi-level factors, with a specific focus on social position, into precision public health.
• To enhance the potential of precision public health to reduce health inequities.

Main Methods:

• Reviewing conceptual foundations of public health.
• Developing and outlining a new framework for precision public health.
• Describing the operationalization of this framework in research and practice.
• Investigating how multiple dimensions of social position interact to influence health risks within specific social contexts.

Main Results:

• The proposed framework integrates factors across all levels, highlighting social position as a key determinant of health and health inequities.
• It investigates the interplay of social position dimensions within social contexts to identify precise population subgroups at risk.
• This approach uncovers intersecting social structures and identifies actionable, context-specific interventions.

Conclusions:

• The refined precision public health framework offers greater potential for health improvement by addressing root causes.
• Operationalizing social position with greater precision across diverse contexts enriches research and identifies targeted interventions.
• This approach is crucial for accurately understanding health risks, causal mechanisms, and for developing effective strategies to reduce health inequities.