Risk factors for non-communicable diseases

• Risk factors are things that are linked to an increase in the likelihood that a person will develop a certain disease during their lifetime.
• Risk factors are often aspects of a person's lifestyle e.g. diet, exercise, habits.
• Risk factors can also come from a person's environment, such as air pollution and asbestos (asbestos fibres build up in airways and causes diseases such as cancer later in life).
• Lifestyle factors have different impacts locally, nationally and globally.
• In developed countries, non-communicable diseases are more common as people generally have a higher income and can buy high-fat food. Nationally, People from deprived areas are more likely to smoke, have a poor diet, and not exercise. This means that cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes are more common in those areas
• Smoking has been proven to directly cause cardiovascular disease, lung disease, and lung cancer. It damages the walls of arteries and the cells in the lining of the lungs.
• Obesity can directly cause type 2 diabetes by making the body less sensitive or resistant to insulin. This means the body will struggle to control the concentration of blood glucose.
• Drinking too much alcohol has been shown to cause liver disease. The liver breaks down alcohol but the reaction has been shown to damage its cells.
• Liver cells may be damaged when toxic chemicals leak from the gut due to damage to the intestines caused by alcohol
• Too much alcohol can affect brain function too. It can damage the nerve cells in the brain, causing the brain to lose volume.
• Smoking when pregnant reduces the amount of oxygen the baby receives. This can cause lots of health problems. Alcohol has similar affects as it damages the babies cells, affecting its development and causes a wide range of health issues, e.g. fetal alcohol syndrome.
• Cancer can be directly caused by exposure to certain substances and radiation. Things that cause cancer are known as 'carcinogens'. Some may damage a cell's DNA in a way that makes the cell more likely to divide uncontrollably.
• Risk factors can be identified using correlation. However correlation doesn't always equal cause.
• Some risk factors aren't capable of directly causing a disease but are related to another risk factor that is, for example:

  • Lack of exercise and high fat diet cannot cause disease directly
  • But the resulting high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels do cause disease.