http://ije.oupjournals.org/cgi/content/full/30/1/43

Although research into social and behavioral determinants of health and illness was conducted throughout the 20th century, it has become more common since the 1980's. Research has been defined as the science, which studies the link between social environment and the development and distribution of disease in populations, a definition that emphasizes a hybrid area of interest between sociology and epidemiology.