Risk Factors for Non-communicable Diseases

• Risk factors

  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. how much exercise they do
• Risk factors can also be the presence of certain substances in the environment or substances in your body
• Many non-communicable diseases are caused by several different risk factors interacting with each other rather than one factor alone
• Lifestyle factors can have impacts locally, nationally and globally
• Some risk factors are able to directly cause a disease:

  • smoking directly causes 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 and or resistant to insulin, meaning it struggles to control the concentration of glucose in the blood
• More risk factors able to directly cause a disease:

  • drinking too much alcohol causes liver disease, as the reaction of the liver breaking down alcohol can damage its cells. Alcohol can affect brain function by damaging the nerve cells in the brain
  • smoking when pregnant causes lots of health problems for the unborn baby as it doesn't receive as much oxygen. Alcohol can also damage the baby's cells
  • cancer is directly caused by exposure to certain substances or radiation - carcinogens
• Carcinogens


  substances that cause cancer and that work in different ways, e.g. damaging a cell's DNA in a way that makes the cell divide uncontrollably
• Risk factors are identified by scientists looking for correlations in the data, but correlation doesn't always equal cause
• Some risk factors can't directly cause a disease but are related to another risk factor that is, e.g. a lack of exercise and a high fat diet are heavily linked to an increased chance of cardiovascular disease, but its the resulting high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels that can actually cause it