Why are SDOH Important?
SDOH can significantly affect a person’s health.
You can’t change an individual’s social environment, but you can connect them with resources that can.
SDOH factors as a layered pyramid
The Why are SDOH Important graphic appears as a pyramid with 5 layers. The top layer is counseling and education, followed by clinical interventions, long-lasting protective interventions, changing the context to make people’s default decisions healthy, and socioeconomic factors. An arrow on the left side points down to the bottom layer of the pyramid (socioeconomic factors) and shows increasing population impact on the different layers in the pyramid. An arrow on the right side of the pyramid points up to the top layer of the pyramid (counseling and education) and shows increasing individual effort needed on the different layers of the pyramid.
Source: National Library of Medicine, A Framework for Public Health Action: The Health Impact Pyramid