Health & Disease (AQA GCSE Combined Science: Trilogy: Biology): Flashcards
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What happens in coronary heart disease (CHD)?
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What happens in coronary heart disease (CHD)?
Layers of fatty material build up inside the coronary arteries, narrowing them.
This reduces blood flow, so the heart muscle receives less oxygen.
In coronary heart disease, layers of material build up inside the coronary arteries.
In coronary heart disease, layers of fatty material build up inside the coronary arteries.
How do stents treat coronary heart disease?
A stent is inserted to hold a narrowed coronary artery open, widening the lumen and increasing blood flow to the heart muscle.
How do statins treat coronary heart disease?
Statins are drugs that reduce blood cholesterol levels, which slows down the rate at which fatty material is deposited in the arteries.
Give one advantage and one disadvantage of statins.
Advantage: they lower 'bad' (LDL) cholesterol, reducing the risk of CHD.
Disadvantage: they must be taken long-term and can cause side effects such as muscle pain.
What are the consequences of faulty heart valves?
A stiff valve may not open fully, reducing the volume of blood pumped.
A leaky valve lets blood flow backwards.
Both reduce the heart's effectiveness at pumping blood.
How can faulty heart valves be treated?
They can be replaced by surgery using a biological valve (from a cow or pig) or a mechanical valve.
How can heart failure be treated?
With a heart transplant from a donor.
An artificial heart can keep a patient alive while they wait for a transplant, or allow their own heart to rest and recover.
Give one advantage and one disadvantage of an artificial heart.
Advantage: a shorter waiting time and less chance of immune rejection than a donor heart.
Disadvantage: it does not work as well as a real heart and increases the risk of blood clots.
Health
The state of physical and mental well-being.
What is the difference between a communicable and a non-communicable disease?
Communicable: caused by a pathogen and can spread between individuals (e.g. measles).
Non-communicable: not caused by a pathogen, cannot spread, and tends to be longer-lasting (e.g. CHD, most cancers).
Name three factors, other than pathogens, that can affect physical and mental health.
Diet, stress and life situations (e.g. income and living conditions).
Health is the state of physical and well-being.
Health is the state of physical and mental well-being.
Give two examples of how different types of disease can interact.
A defect in the immune system makes infectious diseases more likely.
Viruses in cells can trigger some cancers.
(Also: immune reactions to a pathogen can trigger allergies; severe physical illness can lead to depression.)
Which type of graph is used to identify a correlation between two variables?
A scatter diagram.
Remember: a correlation does not prove causation.
When is a bar chart used and when is a histogram used to display disease data?
Bar chart: discrete data (e.g. number of cases per month).
Histogram: continuous data (e.g. ages of infected patients).
Why do scientists use sampling when studying disease in a population?
It is impractical to study every individual, so a sample is taken to represent the population.
It saves time and resources, and a large, well-chosen (e.g. random) sample gives reliable, representative results.
Risk factor
Anything that is linked to an increased rate (likelihood) of a disease.
What are the two categories of risk factor?
Aspects of a person's lifestyle (e.g. diet, smoking).
Substances in the body or environment (e.g. air pollution, asbestos).
A risk factor is something that is linked to an increased of a disease.
A risk factor is something that is linked to an increased rate of a disease.
Does exposure to a risk factor guarantee that a person will develop the disease?
No. A risk factor increases the likelihood but does not guarantee disease — a correlation does not always mean causation.
Causal mechanism
A proven biological explanation of how a risk factor causes a disease. It has been proven for some risk factors but not for others.
Give three risk factors with a proven causal link to disease.
Smoking → cardiovascular disease, lung disease and lung cancer.
Obesity → type 2 diabetes.
Alcohol → damage to the liver and brain function.
Why are many diseases said to be caused by the interaction of several factors?
Several risk factors acting together increase the chance of disease more than one alone.
E.g. the risk of cardiovascular disease is higher in someone who has a poor diet, smokes and does not exercise.
What effects can smoking and alcohol have on an unborn baby?
Smoking during pregnancy is linked to a low birth weight and premature birth.
Alcohol can damage the development of the baby's brain and nervous system.
Why do scientists take a sample of a population rather than study everyone?
Studying every individual would be too time-consuming and virtually impossible.
A sample lets scientists infer information about the whole population, for example to identify risk factors.
How can sampling be used to identify a risk factor for a disease?
Sample many individuals who have the disease and look for shared patterns in their lifestyle or health.
E.g. finding that most people with type 2 diabetes are obese suggests obesity is a risk factor.
A scatter diagram is used to identify a between two variables.
A scatter diagram is used to identify a correlation between two variables.
Describe the human and financial cost of a non-communicable disease to an individual.
The person may be unable to work, reducing their income and affecting their mental health.
They may also need expensive treatment and hospital care.
How can a lifestyle disease affect a community or nation, not just the individual?
Treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) uses healthcare capacity and money at a local and national level.
If many people cannot work, a country's economy is affected.
Give an example of a lifestyle factor increasing the incidence of a non-communicable disease.
Smoking greatly increases an individual's risk of developing lung cancer compared with a non-smoker.
What causes cancer?
Changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division, resulting in the formation of a tumour (a mass of cells).
Benign tumour
A growth of abnormal cells contained in one area, usually within a membrane.
It does not invade other parts of the body and is not cancerous.
Malignant tumour
A cancerous tumour whose cells invade neighbouring tissues and spread through the blood to other parts of the body, forming secondary tumours.
Give the key difference between a benign and a malignant tumour.
A benign tumour stays in one place and does not spread.
A malignant tumour invades other tissues and spreads to form secondary tumours — it is cancerous.
Cancer is the result of changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and .
Cancer is the result of changes in cells that lead to uncontrolled growth and division.
What are the two types of risk factor for cancer?
Lifestyle risk factors (e.g. smoking, UV exposure, diet).
Genetic risk factors — inheriting faulty genes (e.g. faulty BRCA genes for breast and ovarian cancer).
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