Non-Communicable Disease and What Counts as a Risk Factor · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Risk factors are not guarantees

Science · The Human Body · ages 15-16
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. How does a benign tumour differ from a malignant one?

    • Benign spreads faster
    • Benign stays wrapped, malignant invades and spreads
    • Both behave exactly the same

  2. What is a risk factor?

    • A guarantee of disease
    • Something raising disease odds without guaranteeing it
    • A cure for disease

  3. A risk factor guarantees that the disease will follow.

    Circle one:   True   False

  4. Two things rise together but no chain is mapped. What is this?

    • A proven mechanism
    • Only a correlation
    • A complete cure

  5. Which case shows a known mechanism?

    • Two trends rising together with no chain found
    • Narrow vessels raising pressure that damages walls in a loop
    • A rumour with no data at all

  6. How does a tumour start?

    • All cells politely stop at once
    • Bones dissolve into blood
    • Checkpoints fail and one cell divides without permission

  7. A headline says two linked trends prove one causes the other. What is wrong?

    • Correlation alone cannot prove the mechanism
    • Nothing, links always prove causes
    • Trends can never be studied

  8. A town cuts smoking and lung cases fall, though no resident fate was fixed. Why act on risks?

    • Lowering risk lowers chances across a population
    • Risks decide each single fate exactly
    • Acting changes nothing anywhere
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Risk factors are not guarantees W1-mt_IciZ1CJn6h-s1

  1. Benign stays wrapped, malignant invades and spreads · Staying put versus invading neighbours is the key split.
  2. Something raising disease odds without guaranteeing it · It loads the dice but never forces the roll.
  3. False · Odds are not fate. Many at risk never fall ill.
  4. Only a correlation · Treat it as a lead, not proof, until the chain is found.
  5. Narrow vessels raising pressure that damages walls in a loop · Each link there is mapped: narrow, pressure, damage, more risk.
  6. Checkpoints fail and one cell divides without permission · One rogue cell copying again and again grows the lump.
  7. Correlation alone cannot prove the mechanism · Rising together is a lead. The mapped chain is the proof.
  8. Lowering risk lowers chances across a population · Population chances shift even while individual fates stay open.
Worksheet · LightMySky