News tagged with risk factors
Study finds four new genetic risk factors for testicular cancer
A new study looking at the genomes of more than 13,000 men identified four new genetic variants associated with an increased risk of testicular cancer, the most commonly diagnosed type in young men today. The findings from ...
Genetics
May 12, 2013 |
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Boosting 'cellular garbage disposal' can delay the aging process, research shows
(Medical Xpress)—UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, ...
Genetics
May 06, 2013 |
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Genetic markers ID second Alzheimer's pathway
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a new set of genetic markers for Alzheimer's that point to a second pathway through which the disease develops.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
Apr 04, 2013 |
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Genetics might determine which smokers get hooked, research says
Researchers have identified genetic risk factors that may accelerate a teen's progression to becoming a lifelong heavy smoker.
Psychology & Psychiatry
Mar 27, 2013 |
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First evidence that obesity gene is risk factor for melanoma
The gene most strongly linked to obesity and overeating may also increase the risk of malignant melanoma – the most deadly skin cancer, reveals research published in Nature Genetics.
Genetics
Mar 04, 2013 |
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New discovery in fight against deadly meningococcal disease
Professor Michael Jennings, Deputy Director of the Institute for Glycomics at Griffith University, was part of an international team that discovered the previously unknown pathway of how the bacterium colonizes people.
Medical research
May 23, 2013 |
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Depression linked to telomere enzyme, aging, chronic disease
(Medical Xpress)—The first symptoms of major depression may be behavioral, but the common mental illness is based in biology—and not limited to the brain.
Psychology & Psychiatry
May 23, 2013 |
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Researchers identify a potential new risk for sleep apnea: Asthma
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin have identified a potential new risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea: asthma. Using data from the National Institutes of Health (Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)-funded Wisconsin ...
Sleep apnea
May 19, 2013 |
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Free fatty acids linked to cardiac risk in late adulthood
(HealthDay)—Blood levels of free fatty acids are associated with insulin resistance during young adulthood and cardiovascular risk factors in later adulthood, according to a study published online May 13 ...
Cardiology
May 17, 2013 |
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Repeat brain injury raises soldiers' suicide risk, study shows
People in the military who suffer more than one mild traumatic brain injury face a significantly higher risk of suicide, according to research by the National Center for Veterans Studies at the University of Utah.
Psychology & Psychiatry
May 15, 2013 |
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Body fat hardens arteries after middle age
Having too much body fat makes arteries become stiff after middle age, a new study has revealed.
Cardiology
May 15, 2013 |
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Study sees link between mom's flu, bipolar risk for children
(HealthDay)—Women who come down with the flu during pregnancy may be at increased risk of having a child who develops bipolar disorder, a new study suggests.
Psychology & Psychiatry
May 08, 2013 |
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Research suggests link between elevated blood sugar, Alzheimer's risk
(Medical Xpress)—A new University of Arizona study, published in the journal Neurology, suggests a possible link between elevated blood sugar levels and risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
May 06, 2013 |
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No link between anesthesia, dementia in elderly
Elderly patients who receive anesthesia are no more likely to develop long-term dementia or Alzheimer's disease than other seniors, according to new Mayo Clinic research. The study analyzed thousands of patients using the ...
Alzheimer's disease & dementia
May 01, 2013 |
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Risk of depression influenced by quality of relationships, research says
The mantra that quality is more important than quantity is true when considering how social relationships influence depression, say U-M researchers in a new study.
Psychology & Psychiatry
Apr 30, 2013 |
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Risk factor
A 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.
