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In epidemiology, a risk factor or determinant is a variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection. [ 1 ] : 38 Due to a lack of harmonization across disciplines, determinant , in its more widely accepted scientific meaning , is often used as a synonym.
Epidemiology has its limits at the point where an inference is made that the relationship between an agent and a disease is causal (general causation) and where the magnitude of excess risk attributed to the agent has been determined; that is, epidemiology addresses whether an agent can cause disease, not whether an agent did cause a specific ...
The 6 pillars of lifestyle medicine.. Diet and lifestyle are major factors thought to influence susceptibility to many diseases. Substance use disorders, such as tobacco smoking, and excessive consumption of alcohol, and a lack of or too much exercise may also increase the risk of developing certain diseases, especially later in life.
Factors that increase the risk of disease include smoking, [4] diabetes, HIV/AIDS, family history, high levels of homocysteine in the blood and certain medications. [1] Diagnosis is by inspecting the gum tissue around the teeth both visually and with a probe and X-rays looking for bone loss around the teeth. [1] [11]
The Plague of Athens (c. 1652 –1654) by Michiel Sweerts, illustrating the devastating epidemic that struck Athens in 430 BC, as described by the historian Thucydides. The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines epidemic broadly: "Epidemic refers to an increase, often sudden, in the number of cases of a disease above what is normally expected in that population in ...
Obesity increases a person's risk of developing various metabolic diseases, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, Alzheimer disease, depression, and certain types of cancer. [36] Depending on the degree of obesity and the presence of comorbid disorders, obesity is associated with an estimated 2–20 year shorter life expectancy.
More directly, educational attainment is a great predictor of how likely an individual is to engage in risky, possibly disease causing, behaviors. In terms of smoking, which directly correlates to an increased risk for diseases like lung cancer, education is an important determining factor in the likelihood of an individual to smoke.
By convention, a communicable disease outbreak is declared over when a period of twice the incubation period of the infectious disease has elapsed without identification of any new case, however, for organisms with a short incubation period (e.g. fewer than ten days), a period of three times the incubation period is preferred. [11]