Clinical risk factors: overview

Clinical risk factors can be described as physiological attributes which at certain levels may be associated with an increased risk of certain diseases or death. They are 'clinical' in that they usually require some form of clinical assessment through measurement, or biochemical analysis of a blood sample. The three clinical risk factors included in this section are:

High blood pressure - high blood pressure makes a major contribution to stroke, heart disease and kidney failure.

High cholesterol - substantially increases the risk of heart disease

Obesity - and being overweight shorten life expectancy and substantially increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers, gall bladder disease and other conditions.