Non-communicable diseases – lifestyle risk, coronary heart disease and epidemiology
BiologyHealth & DiseaseAges 16–17
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Four linked screens on non-communicable diseases: a 10-year energy-balance and risk model (BMI, blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and heart disease risk from diet, exercise, smoking and air pollution), a narrowed coronary artery with angina, statins, stents and bypass surgery, a virtual cohort or case-control study that gives incidence, prevalence, relative risk and odds ratio, and a data explorer that shows how a confounding variable can create a correlation.
Lesson: Non-communicable diseases: risk factors, coronary heart disease and epidemiology
What it shows
Non-communicable diseases such as coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure are not passed from person to person; their risk rises with age and with lifestyle factors. Fatty plaque narrows the coronary arteries, so the heart muscle gets less oxygen and angina or a heart attack can follow. Epidemiologists compare groups: a cohort study follows people forward and gives the relative risk, a case-control study looks back and gives the odds ratio. All numbers come from an illustrative model, not from real patients.
How to use
On Lifestyle, set the sliders and press Run to follow body mass, BMI and the risk bars for 10 years. On Heart, set Coronary artery narrowing and Activity, then try Statin, Stent and Bypass. On Study, choose Cohort or Case-control and an Exposure, press Run study and calculate RR or OR. On Data, tick Compare within groups to test for a confounder.
Parameters you can change
- Screen Lifestyle, Heart, Study, Data
- Starting age 20–70 years
- Energy intake 1200–4000 kcal/day
- Exercise 0–90 min/day
- Salt 2–15 g/day
- Free sugars 0–30 % of energy
- Saturated fat 5–20 % of energy
- Smoking 0–40 cigarettes/day
- Air pollution PM2.5 5–100 µg/m³
- Coronary artery narrowing 0–100 %
- Activity Rest, Walking, Stairs, Running
- Other disorder None, Anaemia, Heart failure
- Study design Cohort, Case-control
- Exposure Smoking, Physically inactive, Carries a lighter
- Study size 200–5000 people
- Data set Salt intake and blood pressure, Sugar intake and tooth decay, Grey hair and heart disease
Questions to explore
- Why does a narrowed coronary artery cause chest pain during exercise but not at rest?
- Why can the odds ratio from a case-control study be used to estimate the relative risk of a rare disease?
- People who carry a lighter get more heart disease. Why does this not mean that lighters cause it?
