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. They don't guarantee that someone will get the disease.
• Risk factors


  • Aspects of a person's lifestyle (e.g. how much exercise they do)
  • Presence of certain substances in the environment (e.g. air pollution or substances in your body like asbestos fibres)
• Many non-communicable diseases are caused by several different risk factors interacting with each other rather than one factor alone.
• Lifestyle factors can 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 the incidence of cardiovascular disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes is higher in those areas.
• Your individual choices affect the local incidence of disease.
• Smoking


  Directly causes cardiovascular disease, lung disease and lung cancer by damaging 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, meaning that it struggles to control the concentration of glucose in the blood
• Drinking too much alcohol has been shown to directly cause liver disease by damaging liver cells
• Too much alcohol can affect brain function by damaging the nerve cells in the brain, causing the brain to lose volume
• Smoking when pregnant reduces the amount of oxygen the baby receives in the womb and can cause lots of health problems for the unborn baby
• Drinking alcohol when pregnant can damage the baby's cells, affecting its development and causing a wide range of health issues
• Carcinogens


  Substances or radiation that can directly cause cancer by damaging DNA in a way that makes the cell more likely to divide uncontrollably
• Correlation does not always equal cause when identifying risk factors
• Some risk factors aren't capable of directly causing a disease, but are related to another risk factor that is
• Lack of exercise and high fat diet


  Linked to increased chance of cardiovascular disease, but don't cause it directly. It's the resulting high blood pressure and high bad cholesterol levels that can actually cause it.
• Anyone can have risk factors, it just means they have an increased chance of developing the disease earlier and more severely