Diseases of affluence

Diseases of affluence, once called diseases of rich people and sometimes discussed under the label of western disease, is a term for health conditions commonly thought to result from increasing wealth in a society, in contrast to diseases of poverty, which largely arise from and contribute to impoverishment. Their prevalence has increased greatly since the end of the Second World War, and examples include chronic non-communicable conditions such as type 2 diabetes, asthma, coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease, obesity, hypertension, cancer, alcoholism, gout and some allergies, with some accounts also including depression and other mental health conditions linked to social isolation. Diseases of poverty, by contrast, have tended to be largely infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria or the result of poor living conditions, though diseases of affluence increasingly appear among poorer populations as well, and have become more prevalent in developing countries as poverty related disease declines and lifestyles change.