A Level Biology Topic 1 – Lifestyle, Health & Risk Papers 1-3

Risk & Risk Factors for CVD Pack 7

Textbook pages: Associated SNAB Tasks & Activities:

• Pages 18 – 25 A1.11 – Estimating Risk
A1.12 – Correlation and Causation
A1.13 – Identifying Health Risks
Checkpoint 1.4 – Estimating Risk
Checkpoint 1.5 – Features of a Good Study

Learning Outcomes:
1.7 – Know how factors such as genetics, diet, age, gender, high blood pressure, smoking and
inactivity increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD)
1.8 – Be able to analyse and interpret quantitative data on illness and mortality rates to
determine health risks, including distinguishing between correlation and causation and
recognising conflicting evidence
1.9 – Be able to evaluate the design of studies used to determine health risk factors, including
sample selection and sample size used to collect data that is both valid and reliable
1.10 – Understand why people’s perceptions of risks are often different from the actual risks,
including underestimating and overestimating the risks due to diet and other lifestyle
factors in the development of heart disease

Probability & Risk

Risk is:

A hazard is:

Calculating risk
You can be asked to calculate the probability (risk) of something occurring to produce 3 forms of
answer:
• A ‘1 in ....’ answer
• A decimal
• A percentage
Look at the section starting on page 18 to find and make a note of the examples of calculating
these probabilities. You must learn and remember how to do these calculations for exams without
any prompting or help!

1 in ...

1|Page ACD 2022

 A Level Biology Topic 1 – Lifestyle, Health & Risk Papers 1-3

Decimal/Percentage

Perception of Risk
Read page 19-20 and make notes on the reasons why people can overestimate or underestimate risk

Why Overestimate? Why Underestimate?

Correlation & Causation

Define the term correlation

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Define the term positive correlation

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Define the term negative correlation

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What is needed for the correlation to be statistically significant? ………………………………………………………….

When is a correlation causal?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2|Page ACD 2022

 A Level Biology Topic 1 – Lifestyle, Health & Risk Papers 1-3

What is a null hypothesis and when is it used?

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Identifying Risk Factors for CVD

What does an epidemiologist do?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

There are two types of study:

Cohort Study Case-Control Study
Features of the study: Features of the study:

Prospective or retrospective study? Prospective or retrospective study?

Features of a Good Epidemiological Study

Read pages 24 & 25 to help you answer the prompt questions below on how to design a good
epidemiological study.

Why is a clear aim needed?

Why is a representative sample important?

3|Page ACD 2022

 A Level Biology Topic 1 – Lifestyle, Health & Risk Papers 1-3

How is a representative sample ‘chosen’?

How are valid and reliable results obtained?

Why is it important to have a large sample size?

Why do variables need to be controlled?

Risk Factors for CVD

List all the risk factors for CVD that you can find. Be specific – ‘Lifestyle’, ‘Exercise’ and ‘Diet’ are
too vague! Write what is actually causing the CVD to develop. Group your risk factors into the two
categories.
Non-controllable (ones you can’t change) Controllable (ones you can change)

4|Page ACD 2022