Risk Factor - Terms of Description

Terms of Description

Mainly taken from risk factors for breast cancer, risk factors can be described in terms of, for example:

  • Relative risk, such as "A woman is more than 100 times more likely to develop breast cancer in her 60s than in her 20s."
  • Fraction of incidences occurring in the group having the property of or being exposed to the risk factor, such as "99% of breast cancer cases are diagnosed in women"
  • Increase in incidence in the exposed group, such as "each daily alcoholic beverage increases the incidence of breast cancer by 11 cases per 1000 women"
  • Hazard ratio, such as "an increase in both total and invasive breast cancers in women randomized to receive estrogen and progestin for an average of 5 years, with a hazard ratio of 1.24 compared to controls"

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