19.1.1 | Predisposing Factors to Disease

predisposing factors

factors that can lead to disease

vulnerability

predisposing factors tend to increase the body's … to a specific disease

lung cancer

cigarette smoking is a predisposing factor to the development of …

age, gender, genetics, lifestyle, environment

factors that lead to the development of disease include …

immature

infants are vulnerable because their immune systems are …

antibodies

breast-fed babies are more protected from disease because … are transmitted to the infant through the breast milk

immunizations

infant immune systems are augmented by providing … to enhance the infant's immune system

homeostatic function

a general decline in … as humans age places people at increased risk for disease in later years

younger

men tend to develop heart disease at a … age than women

osteoporosis

women are predisoposed to certain diseases, such as …, as they age

sex hormones

often, gender differences in disease development are due to the effects of the …

races

because our ethnicity and race are also genetically encoded, certain diseases are common in…

sickle cell disease

people of African and mediterranean descent tend to develop …

diabetes mellitus

people of Native American and Mexican descent tend to develop …

cystic fibrosis, Tay-Sachs disease

Ashkenazi Jews are vulnerable to many diseases, such as … and …

gene pool

a small … from intermarriage can result in expression of disease-causing genes that would likely not be expressed if the gene pool were more varied

obesity

one of the biggest health problems in the United States

mesothelioma

exposure to asbestos has been directly linked to the development of an uncommon lung cancer called …

birth defects

pollutants have been linked to the development of significant …

toxic substances

cumulative exposure to … also plays a role in disease development

age

minimizing predisposing factors can slow the effects of …