Organisation 3 Flashcards

Health and disease

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1
Q

What is health?

A

The state of physical and mental wellbeing.

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2
Q

Name a major cause of ill health.

A

Diseases (both communicable and non-communicable).

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3
Q

Apart from disease, what factors can cause ill health? (physical and mental)

A

-Diet
-Stress
-Life situations

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4
Q

Give an example of a communicable disease.

A

-Measles
-Malaria

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5
Q

Give an example of a non-communicable disease.

A

-Asthma
-Cancer
-Coronary heart disease

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6
Q

What is a non-communicable disease?

A

A disease that cannot spread between living organisms.

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7
Q

What do non-communicable diseases tend to do?

A

-Last a long time
-Get worse slowly

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8
Q

Diseases can…

A

…interact, causing other physical and mental health issues that don’t seem immediately related.

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9
Q

What do people with defects in the immune system have an increased risk of suffering from?

A

Communicable/
infectious diseases such as influenza (flu).

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10
Q

Why are people with defects in the immune system more likely to suffer from communicable/
infectious diseases?

A

Their body is less likely to be able to defend itself against the pathogen that causes the disease.

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11
Q

What can trigger cancers?

A

Viruses living in cells.

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12
Q

Infection of what virus can lead to an increased chance of developing liver cancer?

A

The hepatitis virus. (causes inflammation of the liver).

This can cause long term infections in the liver, where the virus lives in the cells.

Which can lead to an increased chance of developing liver cancer.

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13
Q

What can cause cervical cancer in women?

A

Infection with HPV (human papilloma virus)

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14
Q

What can trigger allergies such as skin rashes?

A

Immune reactions initially caused by a pathogen.

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15
Q

What can worsen a person’s asthma symptoms?

A

Immune reactions initially caused by a pathogen.

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16
Q

What can severe ill physical health lead to?

A

Depression and other mental illnesses.

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17
Q

What might lead to poor mental health from ill physical health in particular?

A

If the ill physical health has had an impact on the person’s ability to carry out everyday tasks or their life expectancy.

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18
Q

Epidemiological data (useful to know!)

A

Deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.

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19
Q

Diet

A

Having a well-balanced diet that provides your body with everything it needs is essential for good health.

A poor diet can affect both mental and physical health.

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20
Q

Stress

A

Constantly being under lots of stress can lead to health issues.

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21
Q

Life situation

A

-Access to medicines to treat illness?

-Access to things that can prevent you becoming ill in the first place e.g. healthy food, condoms?

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22
Q

What does access to condoms prevent?

A

The transmission of some STIs.

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23
Q

Communicable diseases can spread…

A

…from person to person.

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24
Q

What are risk factors?

A

Things linked to an increased in the likelihood that a person will develop a certain disease during their lifetime.

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25
Q

Risk factors are linked to…

A

…an increased rate of a disease.

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26
Q

What do risk factors not guarantee?

A

That a person will get a disease.

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27
Q

What can risk factors be?

A

-Aspects of a person’s lifestyle e.g. how much exercise

-Substances in a person’s environment e.g. air pollution

-Substances in a person’s body e.g. asbestos fibres

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28
Q

Asbestos (textbook extra)

A

A material used in buildings…

until people realised that the fibres could build up in a person’s airways…

and cause diseases like cancer later in life.

29
Q

Many non communicable diseases are caused by several what?

A

Risk factors interacting with each other.

29
Q

Give an example of how lifestyle factors can can increase the incidence of non-communicable diseases locally.

A

Individual choices e.g. to smoke, have a poor diet, and not exercise can increase the risk of that person developing non-communicable diseases like cardiovascular disease or type 2 diabetes.

30
Q

Give an example of how lifestyle factors can can increase the incidence of non-communicable diseases nationally.

A

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.

31
Q

Give an example of how lifestyle factors can can increase the incidence of non-communicable diseases globally.

A

In developed countries, non-communicable diseases are more common as people generally have a higher income and can buy high-fat food and alchohol.

32
Q

Casual mechanism (for risk factors) meaning

A

Direct cause (of a disease)

e.g. obesity as a risk factor for type 2 diabetes

33
Q

What does smoking directly cause?

A

-Cardiovascular disease
-Lung disease
-Lung cancer

34
Q

How does smoking cause cardiovascular disease, lung disease, and lung cancer?

A

It damages the walls of arteries and the cells in the lining of the lungs.

35
Q

What is obesity a risk factor for?

A

Type 2 diabetes.

36
Q

How is obesity a risk factor for type 2 diabetes?

A

It can make the body less sensitive (or resistant) to insulin.

So the body struggles to control the concentration of glucose in the blood.

37
Q

What can drinking too much alcohol cause?

A

-Liver disease
-It can affect brain function too

38
Q

How does drinking too much alcohol affect brain function?

A

Alcohol can damage nerve cells in the brain, causing the brain to lose volume.

39
Q

Smoking when pregnant can cause what?

A

Lots of health problems for the unborn baby e.g. stunted growth of the body and brain.

(drinking alcohol when pregnant has similar effects)

40
Q

Carcinogens

A

Things that can cause cancer (i.e. are risk factors).

41
Q

Cancer can be directly caused by what?

A

Exposure to certain substances or radiation such as ionising radiation from X-rays.

(carcinogen[s])

42
Q

How are risk factors identified?

A

By scientists looking for correlations in data.

43
Q

Negatives of using correlation to identify risk factors.

A

Correlation ≠ Causation and some risk factors aren’t capable of directly causing a disease.

44
Q

A lack of exercise and a high fat diet are heavily linked to what?

A

An increased chance of cardiovascular disease.

45
Q

What actually causes cardiovascular disease?

(rather than a lack of exercise and a high fat diet)

A

The resulting high blood pressure and high LDL cholesterol levels.

46
Q

Human cost of non-communicable diseases.

A

-Tens of millions of people around the world die from them each year

-People with them may have a lower quality of life or shorter lifespan

-This affects both the sufferers and their loved ones

47
Q

Financial cost of non-communicable diseases.

A

-The cost of NHS research and treatment is huge

-This is the same for other health services and organisations around the world

-Families may have to move/adapt their home to help a family member with a disease which can be costly

-Family income reduced if a member has to give up work or dies

-A reduction in the number of people able to work can affect a country’s economy.

48
Q

What is cancer a result of?

A

Changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division.

49
Q

What does the uncontrolled growth and division of cells lead to?

A

The formation of a tumour. (not all of these are cancerous!)

50
Q

Which type of tumour is cancerous - benign or malignant?

A

Malignant

51
Q

What are benign tumours?

A

Benign tumours are growths of abnormal cells which are contained in one area, usually within a membrane.

They do not invade other parts of the body.

They are not usually dangerous.

52
Q

What are malignant tumours?

A

Malignant tumours are cancers.

They are dangerous and can be fatal.

53
Q

What do malignant tumours do?

A

They invade neighbouring tissues and spread to different part of the body in the blood where they form secondary tumours.

(cells can break off to do this).

54
Q

Who can develop cancer?

A

Anyone.

55
Q

What does having risk factors of cancer mean?

A

You are at an increased risk of developing the disease but this doesn’t mean you’ll definitely get it.

56
Q

What has happened to cancer survival rates?

A

They have increased due to medical advances such as improved treatment, earlier diagnosis, and increased screening for the disease.

57
Q

Genetic risk factors for cancer.

A

Mutations in the BRCA genes have been linked to an increased likelihood of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

58
Q

Inheriting faulty genes can make you what?

A

More susceptible to cancer.

59
Q

What are the lifestyle factors that scientists have identified for various types of cancer?

A

-Smoking
-Obesity
-UV exposure
-Viral infection

60
Q

What types of cancer is smoking a risk factor for?

A

-Lung cancer

-Mouth cancer
-Bowel cancer
-Stomach cancer
-Cervical cancer

61
Q

What is the second biggest preventable cause of cancer after smoking?

A

Obesity

62
Q

What types of cancer is obesity a risk factor for?

A

-Bowel cancer
-Liver cancer
-Kidney cancer

63
Q

What type of cancer is UV exposure a risk factor for?

A

-Skin cancer

64
Q

What people have an increased chance of developing skin cancer?

A

People wo are often exposed to UV radiation:

-That live in sunny climates

-That spend a lot of time outside

-That frequently use sunbeds

65
Q

What can infection with hepatitis B and hepatitis C increase the risk of?

A

Developing liver cancer

66
Q

Infection with some viruses has been shown to increase the risk of developing what?

A

CERTAIN TYPES of cancer.

67
Q

Unprotected sex and sharing needles
are lifestyle factors affecting what?

A

The likelihood of becoming infected with cancer- causing viruses.

(as they can spread between people)