Investigating the causes of CVD Flashcards
What is a risk?
Is the probability of an event to take place
What is epidemiology?
Study of factors which are linked to certain conditions
What is a perceived risk?
Over/Underestimating a calculated risk because of our interest or approval of the activity
Who is an epidemiologist?
A scientist who studies the risk factors and carries out research to determine the risk factors for health
What is being biased?
When someone is unfair to or against the idea
What is evaluating?
Access or judge the quality of a study and the significance of the result
How do people perceive risk?
Own experience, peer pressure, inability to access the risk well
What are epidemiological studies?
A large sample is random and when investigating one factor the other factors must be controlled
What should a study contain?
It should contain different ages and a placebo
What is a placebo?
A replica of the drug being tested that is indistinguishable from the real drug yet it
exerts no effects on the patient whatsoever
What are the two types of epidemiological studies?
Cohort or case-control
What are cohort studies?
It has strong evidence and takes a long period of time where they observe a large number of people however this isn’t good for studying rare diseases
What are case-control studies?
It has weak evidence as it is taken fast by investigating a group of people’s past history
What happens when studies run for a long time?
Some people might leave the area or die become too ill to participate or no longer want to participate
How is the data collected?
Medical records or patient’s recall of data collection
Why are questionnaires used to collect data?
Cheap and easy and quick however inaccurate info is usually given or they might not understand the question
What are the 2 types of risk factors of CVD?
Modifiable and non-modifiable
What are the modifiable risk factors of CVD?
Smoking/ High BP / Diet and obesity / Activity
What are the nonmodifiable risk factors of CVD?
Genes/ Age/ Gender
How do genes affect CVD?
The tendency to high BP, poor cholesterol, and occurrence of heart attacks
What happens as age increases in CVD?
As age increases the risk of CVD increases due to the elasticity of the arteries decreasing
How does gender affect CVD?
Males are more prone than females
How does diet affect CVD?`
As saturated fat intake increases the risk increases
How do high amounts of salt and alcohol affect CVD?
They both increase blood pressure due to them causing a lot of thirst which the water will diffuse through osmosis so the volume of blood increases
What is LDLS?
Low-density lipoproteins are saturated fats and low in protein and cholesterol (Bad)
What is HDLS?
High-density lipoproteins are unsaturated fats and high in protein and cholesterol (Good)
What is the meaning of Causation?
The relationship between 2 variables in one is the direct cause of the other
What is the meaning of correlation?
The relationship between 2 variables in which a change in one is reflected in a change in the other one
How does the lack of exercise affect the risk of CVD?
As the lack of exercise increases the LDL levels increase causing obesity due to the formation of plaque
What are the obesity indicators?
BMI, waist-to-hip ratio, Skin foldings
What can hypertension do?
It damages the heart and the endothelial layer which causes the accumulation of WBC and the formation of plaque then the cells become deprived of O2 therefore the risk of strokes increases
What can smoking cause?
It damages the lining of arteries and increases the heart rate while decreasing the blood flow from the heart and the amount of O2 that reaches the body deacreases
