Non-Communicable Diseases

Non-communicable diseases are medical conditions that cannot be spread from person to person. Learn about examples like cancer, heart disease, and diabetes, the risk factors that increase their likelihood, and how lifestyle choices like diet, smoking, and exercise affect health. This topic helps you understand how these diseases develop and how they can be prevented or treated.

Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases

Diseases can be divided into two main types:

• Communicable diseases are infectious and caused by pathogens like bacteria, viruses, or fungi. They can spread from person to person (e.g. flu, measles, malaria).
• Non-communicable diseases are not infectious and cannot be passed between people. These include long-term conditions like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

What Affects Your Health?

Health is influenced by more than just whether you catch a disease. Several factors can affect your physical and mental well-being, such as:

• Diet – poor nutrition can lead to obesity or deficiencies
• Exercise – helps maintain a healthy body and heart
• Smoking and alcohol – increase risk of many diseases
• Stress and mental health – can impact physical health too
• Access to healthcare, housing, and the environment also matter

Risk Factors for Non-Communicable Diseases

A risk factor is anything that increases your chance of developing a disease. These can be:

• • Lifestyle-related: smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise, alcohol
  • Environmental: pollution or exposure to harmful substances
  • Genetic: some diseases run in families or are inherited

Risk factors often work together and can make non-communicable diseases more likely and more severe.

Types of Non-Communicable Disease

There are several important non-communicable diseases you need to know for GCSE Biology:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD)
• Cancer
• Type 2 diabetes
• Chronic respiratory diseases (e.g. asthma, COPD)
• Liver and kidney diseases

These conditions usually develop over time and can be influenced by both genes and lifestyle choices.

Cardiovascular Disease and Heart Treatments

Cardiovascular disease affects the heart and blood vessels, often due to fatty deposits building up in arteries (coronary heart disease). This reduces blood flow and can lead to heart attacks.

Treatments include:

• Stents – to keep arteries open
• Statins – to lower blood cholesterol
• Lifestyle changes – diet, exercise, stopping smoking

Some people have faulty heart valves that don’t open or close properly, which can lead to breathlessness and poor blood circulation. These can be treated with:

• Biological valves (from animals or donors)
• Mechanical valves (long-lasting but require medication)

Cancer

Cancer is caused by uncontrolled cell division, which can lead to the formation of tumours:

• Benign tumours stay in one place and are not usually dangerous
• Malignant tumours can spread to other parts of the body (metastasis) and are cancerous

Risk factors for cancer include:

• Smoking
• Excessive UV exposure
• Alcohol
• Genetic mutations

Detecting cancer early improves the chances of successful treatment.

Also see Communicable Diseases, Preventing Diseases, The Lungs & Heart

Links for Learning

BBC Bitesize: Cardiovascular Disease
BBC Bitesize: Development of cardiovascular disease
Cognitoedu.org: Cardiovascular Disease Q&A
BBC Bitesize: Non-communicable diseases - Cancer
BBC Bitesize: Different types of disease