ABSTRACT
The great diversity of the human populations is reflected in health, illness, and the basic attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to health outcomes. There are well-recognized and emerging differences in these variables between men and women, between older and younger people, and among different genetically and culturally defined population subgroups. Women develop heart disease more slowly than men do, but appear to catch up rapidly once they reach menopause. Hypertension, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and some cancers are more common or virulent among African American or Hispanic populations in the United States than in Whites. However, the reasons for these differences are not always clear and could reflect several distinct processes operating independently or jointly. This chapter considers some of the bases of variation in health among population groups in the United States, focusing on neuroendocrine differences associated with stress.
