Communicable and non-communicable disease, risk factors and how they interact, correlation versus cause, and benign and malignant tumours.
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1.Define health.
A state of physical and mental wellbeing.
2.What is a communicable disease?
A disease caused by a pathogen that can be passed from one person to another, such as measles or flu.
3.What is a non-communicable disease?
A disease that cannot be passed between people, such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes or most cancers.
4.Give an example of one type of disease making another more likely.
A defect in the immune system makes a person more likely to suffer from infectious diseases.
5.How can a virus lead to cancer?
Viruses living inside cells can act as the trigger for cancers, for example the link between HPV and cervical cancer.
6.How can immune reactions cause further illness?
An immune reaction caused by a pathogen can trigger allergies such as skin rashes and asthma.
7.What is the link between physical and mental illness?
Severe physical ill health can lead to depression and other mental illness.
8.What is a risk factor?
Anything about a person's lifestyle, or a substance in their body or environment, that increases the chance of them developing a disease.
9.Give four risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Smoking, a diet high in saturated fat, lack of exercise, and obesity.
10.Which risk factor is most strongly linked to type 2 diabetes?
Obesity.
11.What are the effects of alcohol on the body?
It damages the liver and affects brain function.
12.What is the effect of smoking during pregnancy?
It affects the development of the unborn baby, including a lower birth weight.
13.What is a carcinogen?
A substance that can cause cancer, for example the chemicals in tobacco smoke or ionising radiation.
14.What is the difference between a correlation and a cause?
A correlation just means two things change together. Before saying one causes the other, scientists have to show a mechanism explaining how.
15.What is a tumour?
A mass of cells produced by uncontrolled cell division.
16.What is a benign tumour?
A growth of abnormal cells contained in one place, usually within a membrane. It does not invade other parts of the body.
17.What is a malignant tumour?
A cancer. The cells invade neighbouring tissues and can spread in the blood to other parts of the body, forming secondary tumours.
18.Give three risk factors for cancer.
Smoking, obesity, exposure to ultraviolet light, and inherited genetic factors.
19.Give two human costs of non-communicable disease.
Illness, disability and early death for the person, and the effect on their family who may have to care for them.
20.Give two financial costs of non-communicable disease.
The cost to the health service of treatment and research, and the cost to the economy when people are unable to work.
21.Why is obesity a risk factor for several different diseases?
Excess body fat raises blood pressure and cholesterol and affects how the body controls blood glucose, which contributes to heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
22.How does smoking cause lung disease?
Chemicals in the smoke damage the lining of the lungs and airways, and carcinogens in it can cause lung cancer.
23.What do epidemiological studies look for?
Patterns of disease across large populations, which point to possible risk factors worth investigating.
24.Why do studies of risk factors use very large samples?
Larger samples make the results more reliable and reduce the chance of a pattern appearing by coincidence.
25.Give two ways a government can reduce non-communicable disease.
Education campaigns, taxing tobacco and alcohol, banning smoking in public places, and encouraging exercise.
26.Why might two people with the same risk factor have different outcomes?
A risk factor raises the probability of disease, it does not guarantee it. Genetics and other lifestyle factors also affect the outcome.
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