More than 60 percent of people in the United States are concerned about their future health, a poll finds.
In addition, almost 40 percent believe negative experiences in childhood are having a detrimental impact on their health as adults.
In the poll, respondents identified many factors they believe influence their health.
"When the public thinks about the causes of ill health, it's not just about germs," explains poll researcher Robert J. Blendon of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "They also see access to medical care, personal behavior, stress and pollution as affecting health."
The school conducted the poll in collaboration with NPR and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
When presented with 14 factors that could be linked with poor health, poll respondents said the top five were a lack of access to quality medical attention (42 percent), personal behavior (40 percent), bacteria or viruses (40 percent), elevated stress levels (37 percent), and being exposed to water, air or chemical pollution (35 percent).
However, responses to the poll's list of factors varied depending on race and income, the researchers found.
African Americans were more likely than whites to consider lack of access to high-quality medical care, low income or insufficient education as important factors in an individual's health status, the poll revealed.
Hispanics were more likely to consider poor working conditions as extremely important, the poll found.
"This very important poll illustrates the dire socio-economic factors faced every day by too many people in this country," says Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "These factors can have as much, or more, impact on their health as disease -- and they know it."
One surprise finding is that more than half of Americans believe abuse or neglect during childhood is a significant cause of health issues encountered later in life.
They also said growing up in a polluted region, having a poor diet or not being vaccinated were extremely important childhood issues bearing on adult health.
When asked what they thought was needed to improve the overall health in America, poll respondents listed improved access to high-quality healthcare, more availability of affordable, healthy food, reducing pollution and dealing with illegal drug use.
Despite the many factors that impact physical well being, a full 78 percent of poll respondents expressed a belief they could exert considerable personal control over their own health.
