Health & Disease Flashcards

All 30 cards in this deck

What is coronary heart disease?

Layers of fatty material build up inside the coronary arteries, narrowing them. Blood flow is reduced, so the heart muscle receives less oxygen.

What is a stent and what does it do?

A mesh tube inserted into a coronary artery to keep it open, restoring blood flow and the oxygen supply to the heart muscle.

What do statins do?

They reduce blood cholesterol levels, which slows down the rate at which fatty material is deposited in the arteries.

What are the consequences of a faulty heart valve?

The valve may not open fully, restricting blood flow, or it may leak so blood flows backwards. The heart pumps blood less efficiently.

True or false? A patient given a mechanical heart valve must take anti-clotting drugs for the rest of their life.

True. Mechanical valves last longer than biological valves, but they can cause blood clots.

When is an artificial heart used?

To keep a patient alive while waiting for a heart transplant, or to allow their own heart to rest as an aid to recovery.

What is health?

The state of physical and mental well-being.

What is the difference between a communicable and a non-communicable disease?

Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens and can spread between people; non-communicable diseases cannot be spread, e.g. coronary heart disease.

How does a defect in the immune system affect a person's health?

They are more likely to suffer from infectious (communicable) diseases.

Which type of pathogen living inside cells can be a trigger for cancers?

Viruses.

True or false? An immune reaction initially caused by a pathogen can trigger an allergy such as a skin rash or asthma.

True. This is one example of different types of disease interacting.

What effect can severe physical ill health have on mental health?

It can lead to depression and other mental illnesses.

What is a risk factor?

An aspect of lifestyle, or a substance in the body or environment, that is linked to an increased rate of a disease.

True or false? If a risk factor is correlated with a disease, that factor must cause the disease.

False. A causal mechanism has been proven for some risk factors but not others; correlation alone does not prove cause.

Obesity is a risk factor for which non-communicable disease?

Type 2 diabetes.

What are the effects of drinking too much alcohol on the body?

Liver disease (cirrhosis) and reduced brain function.

Which diseases is smoking a risk factor for?

Lung disease and lung cancer; it is also a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

What are the effects of smoking and alcohol during pregnancy on the unborn baby?

Smoking can cause low birth weight or premature birth; alcohol can damage the baby's brain development.

What are the steps to calculate a percentage decrease in relative risk?

e.g. relative risk falls from $2.5$ to $2.0$

1. Find the decrease: $2.5 - 2.0 = 0.5$
2. Divide by the original value: $0.5 \div 2.5 = 0.2$
3. Multiply by 100: a $20\%$ decrease

What does a positive correlation on a scatter diagram tell you about two variables?

As one variable increases, the other increases as well.
e.g. as cigarettes smoked per day increases, incidence of lung cancer increases.

Give three features of an epidemiological study that make its data valid.

A large number of people in the sample, a long-term study, and other factors well controlled.

Give one reason why data from a survey asking people about their alcohol consumption may reduce the validity of a study.

People may under-estimate, over-estimate or lie about how much they drink.
They may also change their drinking habits over time.

Give one financial cost of non-communicable diseases to a nation.

The cost to the health service of treating patients (medication, surgery, hospital stays).
Also lost productivity when people take time off work.

Give one human cost of a non-communicable disease to an individual.

Reduced quality of life, e.g. pain or disability, loss of job and income, poorer mental health, or early death.

What is cancer?

The result of changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division, forming a tumour.

What is a benign tumour?

A growth of abnormal cells contained in one area, usually within a membrane; it does not invade other parts of the body.

What is a malignant tumour?

A cancer: its cells invade neighbouring tissues and spread in the blood to other parts of the body, where they form secondary tumours.

Give two lifestyle risk factors for cancer.

Smoking (lung cancer) and exposure to UV radiation from the sun (skin cancer).
Obesity and alcohol are also accepted.

True or false? All cancers are caused by lifestyle factors.

False. Some cancers also have genetic risk factors, such as inherited faulty genes.

True or false? Fitting a stent cures coronary heart disease.

False. A stent only holds the narrowed artery open to restore blood flow; fatty material can still build up again.