Related topics: heart disease , blood pressure , cardiovascular disease , risk
Risk factor
hideA risk factor is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. Risk factors are correlational and not necessarily causal, because correlation does not imply causation. For example, being young cannot be said to cause measles, but young people are more at risk as they are less likely to have developed immunity during a previous epidemic.
Risk factors are evaluated by comparing the risk of those exposed to the potential risk factor to those not exposed. Let's say that at a wedding, 74 people ate the chicken and 22 of them were ill, while of the 35 people who had the fish or vegetarian meal only 2 were ill. Did the chicken make the people ill?
So the chicken eaters' risk = 22/74 = 0.297 And non-chicken eaters' risk = 2/35 = 0.057.
Those who ate the chicken had a risk over five times as high as those who did not, suggesting that eating chicken was the cause of the illness. Note, however, that this is not proof. Statistical methods would be used in a less clear cut case to decide what level of risk the risk factor would have to present to be able to say the risk factor is linked to the disease (for example in a study of the link between smoking and lung cancer). Even then, no amount of statistical analysis could prove that the risk factor causes the disease; this could only be proven using direct methods such as a medical explanation of the disease's roots.
The earliest use of risk factor analysis dates back to Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (1020s), though the term "risk factor" was first coined by heart researcher Dr. Thomas R. Dawber in a landmark scientific paper in 1961, where he attributed heart disease to specific conditions (blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking).
For more information about Risk factor, read the full article at
Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
News tagged with risk factors
Sex hormones link to heart risk
Sep 01, 2008 |
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Men are more prone to – and likely to die of - heart disease compared with women of a similar age – and sex hormones are to blame, according to a new University of Leicester led study.
Type 2 Diabetes Rears Its Ugly Head Long Before Diagnosis
May 14, 2009 |
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Signs and symptoms of type 2 diabetes can present themselves as long as 10 years before diagnosis and most people have no idea before the damage is done.
High-normal phosphate levels linked to early atherosclerosis
Nov 13, 2008 |
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Healthy adults with higher levels of phosphate in the blood are more likely to have increased levels of calcium in the coronary arteries—a key indicator of atherosclerosis and future cardiovascular disease risk, reports a ...
Birth size is a marker of susceptibility to breast cancer later in life
Sep 30, 2008 |
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Birth size, and in particular birth length, correlates with subsequent risk of breast cancer in adulthood, according to a new study published in PLoS Medicine by researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medici ...
Research identifies new link between tart cherries and risk factors for heart disease
Oct 22, 2008 |
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New research continues to link tart cherries, one of today's hottest "Super Fruits," to lowering risk factors for heart disease. In addition to lowering cholesterol and reducing inflammation, the study being presented by ...
Lack of vitamin D could spell heart trouble
Dec 01, 2008 |
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Vitamin D deficiency—which is traditionally associated with bone and muscle weakness—may also increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). A growing body of evidence links low 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels to common CVD ...
Study offers new insights into teenagers and anxiety disorders
Sep 15, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Can scientists predict who will develop anxiety disorders years in advance? UCLA psychology professor Michelle Craske thinks so. She is four years into an eight-year study evaluating 650 students, who were ...
Vitamin C intake associated with lower risk of gout in men
Mar 09, 2009 |
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Men with higher vitamin C intake appear less likely to develop gout, a painful type of arthritis, according to a report in the March 9 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.
New risk factor for prostate cancer
Oct 08, 2008 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- The greater the levels of a protein called Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), the greater the risk of prostate cancer, an Oxford University-led study has found. The results are published in the journal ...
Viewing child porn not a risk factor for future sex offenses: study
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
Jul 14, 2009 |
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For people without a prior conviction for a hands-on sex offense, the consumption of child pornography alone does not, in itself, seem to represent a risk factor for committing such an offense. Researchers writing in the ...
Hepatitis B exposure may increase risk for pancreatic cancer
Sep 30, 2008 |
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In a first-of-its-kind finding, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center have discovered that exposure to the hepatitis B virus (HBV) may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.
Top-selling prescription drug mismarketed to women
Medicine & Health / Medications
Sep 17, 2008 |
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Lipitor has been the top-selling drug in the world and has accounted for over $12 billion in annual sales. It has been prescribed to both men and women to lower cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in ...
Drinking alcohol before 15 years of age is risky for later alcohol problems
Sep 29, 2008 |
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It may seem like a minor point, but it matters when someone takes their first drink of alcohol relative to later development of alcohol problems. A new study of the relationship between age at first drink (AFD) and the risk ...
Increased rate of hemangiomas linked to rise in number of low birth weight infants in US
Oct 20, 2008 |
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Low birth weight is the most significant factor for the development of infantile hemangiomas, a common birthmark, according to a new study by researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin and Children's Research Institute.
Multiple genes implicated in autism
Feb 09, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- By pinpointing two genes that cause autism-like symptoms in mice, researchers at MIT’s Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown for the first time that multiple, interacting genetic risk factors ...
