1. What are the global patterns of disease, and can factors be identified to determine this?
Key Ideas Content
1.a. Diseases can be classified, how diseases can be classified, including infectious
and their patterns mapped. The and non-infectious, communicable and non-
spread of diseases is complex communicable, contagious and non-contagious,
and influenced by a number of epidemic, endemic and pandemic
factors patterns of disease, including global distributions of
Malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, diabetes and cardio-
vascular disease.
disease diffusion and spread to new areas
(Hägerstrand model), including the phases of
diffusion, physical and socio-economic factors
Non-Infectious Diseases: Not spread from host-to-host, caused by external factors
Lifestyle causes Diseases caused by lifestyle choices and habits
Cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, Heart Disease
Environmental Diseases caused by exposure to toxins in the air, water, land, food or the sun
causes Asthma, Cancer
Nutritional causes Diseases cause by deficiency in particular macro/micronutrients
Scurvy, Rickets
Genetic Causes Diseases caused by genetic inheritance
Cancer, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s
Infectious Diseases: Diseases are spread by pathogens (either bacteria, viruses, parasites
or fungi)
Zoonotic Transmitted from animals to humans
Plague, Rabies
Communicable Infectious Disease which spreads easily from host-to-host, but does not require
quarantine
HIV/AIDs, other STI’S
Contagious Diseases which are easily spread between direct or indirect contact between
people
Bacterial – Typhoid, Plague
Viral – Ebola, Yellow Fever, Common Cold
Non-Contagious Pathogens are spread by disease vectors
Malaria, Dengue Fever
Endemic: The usual prevalence of a disease/infectious agent within a population area
Epidemic: An outbreak of a disease that infects many people at the same time and spreads
through a population in a restricted area
Pandemic: An epidemic that has spread worldwide affecting a large number of people
Degenerative: Is the result of continuous process based on degenerative cell changes
affecting tissues or organs, which will increase degenerating over time due to normal bodily
wear or lifestyle choices (e.g. exercise or eating habits).
EDC’s (emerging developing countries) now have both communicable and non-
communicable diseases due to globalisation
60% of deaths worldwide are due to degenerative diseases
, 1. What are the global patterns of disease, and can factors be identified to determine this?
Mortality: Death
Morbidity: Illness
Indicators of Morbidity
1) Prevalence: total number of cases in a population at a particular time
2) Incidence: number of new cases in a population during a particular time period
Incident rate can be calculated as follows:
Number of new cases
Number of people at risk
DALY’s: refer to the number of years lost because of premature death/disability and is an
indicator of health + the burden of disease
Factors affecting life expectancy
Lifestyle Smoking and drinking excessively shortens lifespan
Employment Those who are employed are more likely to live longer
Education Lower levels of education result in reduced life expectancy
Disease High disease prevalence results in reduced life expectancy
Living Conditions Bad living conditions can reduce life expectancy
Healthcare High levels of healthcare can improve life expectancy
Poor healthcare (seen in LIDC’s) makes people more susceptible to disease
Hygiene Poor hygiene levels make individuals more susceptible to disease
Stress Acts as an immunosuppressant and can shorten lifespan
Economic The more affluent a country is, the higher the life expectancy as they will have
Development more access to, e.g., healthcare and education
Disease Diffusion
Diffusion: to disperse from a centre – to spread widely
Closely linked to globalisation as disease is more likely to spread in an increasingly
connected world (with integrated travel systems)
Crowded living and working conditions
Inadequate sanitation
Unclean water supplies
Inadequate nutrition – too little or too much
Low income – no medical resources
Relevant to the UK: Long working hours, Physically exhausting work, Inaccessible
healthcare, Exposure to health risks at work, Inadequate education (e.g. HIV/AIDs victims as
a result of not being aware of safe sex)
Frictional effect of distance: states that incidences (number of new cases) of disease is
likely to be affected by distance
