B7 - Non-communicable diseases

Question 1

What is “health”?

Answer 1

The state of physical and mental well-being.

Question 2

What are the two types of disease?

Answer 2

Communicable and non-communicable

Question 3

What is a communicable disease?

Answer 3

A disease caused by a pathogen and can be spread

Question 4

What is a non-communicable disease?

Answer 4

Any disease not caused by a pathogen, and can’t be spread between organisms, but can be inherited through genetics.

Question 5

Give examples of how communicable and non-communicable diseases can interact

Answer 5

• Defects in the immune system mean that an individual is more likely to suffer from infectious (communicable) diseases.
• Viruses (communicable) living in cells can be the trigger for cancers (non-communicable)
• Immune reactions initially caused by a pathogen (communicable) can trigger allergies such as skin rashes and asthma (non-communicable)
• Severe physical ill health can lead to depression and other mental illness.

Question 6

What other factors, other than pathogens, influence health?

Answer 6

1. Diet
2. Stress
3. Life situations

Question 7

What is epidemiology?

Answer 7

Studying the patterns of disease to determine risk factors

Question 8

What is a risk factor?

Answer 8

A factor linked to an increased risk of disease

Question 9

Give two general examples of a risk factor.

Answer 9

1. The lifestyle of a person

2. Substances in the person’s body or environment

Question 10

What is a correlation?

Answer 10

Where a change in one of two variables is reflected by a change in the other variable e.g increases in alcohol consumption = increase in incidence of breast cancer

Question 11

What is a “causal mechanism”?

Answer 11

Where there is evidence from an investigation that links the risk factor to causing a particular disease.

Question 12

What examples are there where a causal mechanism has been proven for some risk factors?

Answer 12

• The effects of diet, smoking and exercise on cardiovascular disease;
• Obesity as a risk factor for Type 2 diabetes;
• The effect of alcohol on the liver and brain function;
• Carcinogens, including ionising radiation, as risk factors in cancer;
• The effects of smoking and alcohol on unborn babies;
• The effect of smoking on lung disease and lung cancer

Question 13

Most diseases are termed “multi-factorial”. What does this mean?

Answer 13

Multiple risk factors contributing to the person developing the disease

Question 14

What is the human cost of non-communicable disease?

Answer 14

Tens of millions of people die from non-communicable diseases each year

Question 15

What is the financial cost of non-communicable disease?

Answer 15

• Researching and treating non-communicable disease costs the NHS millions of pounds
• Families may have to move or adapt their homes if a family member gets ill
• People may have to give up work which effects

Question 16

What is cancer?

Answer 16

The uncontrolled growth and division of cells

Question 17

How do cancers develop?

Answer 17

DNA in cells is changed

Question 18

What is a benign tumour?

Answer 18

A growth of abnormal cells which is contained in one area within the body and will not invade other body parts

Question 19

What is a malignant tumour?

Answer 19

A growth of abnormal cells which invade neighbouring tissues and spread to different parts of the body in the blood where they form secondary tumours. Malignant tumour cells are cancers

Question 20

What are the main lifestyle risk factors for cancer?

Answer 20

1. Smoking (lung cancer)
2. UV exposure (skin cancer)
3. Obesity (bowel, liver and kidney cancer)
4. Viral infection can increase risk of certain cancers

Question 21

Name another risk factor in the development of cancer.

Answer 21

Genetics