Risk Factors-Primary Or Secondary

Jun 17, 2016
2 min read

The World Health Organization(WHO) defines a risk factor as, "any attribute, characteristic or exposure of an individual that increases the likelihood of developing a disease or injury."

For this article we are taking a look at the health risk factors for non communicable diseases(NCD's).

NCD's are chronic diseases, chronic disease are: diabetes, heart Disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD and cancers.

The major risk factors for chronic diseases are:

-Unhealthy eating

-Lack of physical activity

-Overweight /Obesity

-Smoking -Abuse of Alcohol

-Air pollution

-Hypertension

-High cholesterol

Primary Risk factors

These are referred to as primary because they are usually not as a result of another risk factor. Primary risk factors are usually as a result of bad habits, choice or exposure. Primary risk factors can be avoided, they are in our control.

Unhealthy eating
Physical inactivity
Smoking
Abuse of alcohol
Air pollution

Secondary Risk Factors

Some health risk factors are secondary, meaning they are as a result of another risk factor.

Examples of secondary risk factors are:

Overweight/Obesity- Secondary to unhealthy eating, lack of physical activity, hereditary or existing disease.

Hypertension- Secondary to unhealthy eating, obesity, age and race.

High Cholesterol- Secondary to unhealthy eating and age.

Existing disease- Existing disease is a secondary risk factor, secondary to the risk factor that caused the disease. Existing disease; however, is a risk factor for disability and can be a risk factor for other diseases.

Our aim in protecting our health is to prevent secondary risk factors; we can accomplish this by eliminating the primary ones, by changing our habits or making better choices.

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