Editing Risk factor (section)

{{short description|Variable associated with an increased risk of disease or infection}}
{{about|the concept in epidemiology|other uses|Risk factor (disambiguation)}}
{{expert needed|medicine|reason=defining, "determinant," a complicated, poorly harmonized concept in medicine. Some sources use the term loosely while others use it as a technical term.|date=July 2019}}

In [[epidemiology]], a '''risk factor''' or '''determinant''' is a variable associated with an increased [[risk]] of [[disease]] or [[infection]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Disorders of childhood : development and psychopathology|last=Parritz, Robin Hornik|others=Troy, Michael F. (Michael Francis)|isbn=9781337098113|edition= Third|location=Boston, MA|oclc=960031712|date = 2017-05-24}}</ref>{{Rp|38}}

Due to a lack of harmonization across disciplines, '''determinant''', in its more widely accepted [[wikt:determine|scientific meaning]], is often used as a synonym. The main difference lies in the realm of practice: medicine ([[Medicine#Clinical practice|clinical practice]]) versus [[public health]]. As an example from clinical practice, low ingestion of dietary sources of [[vitamin C]] is a known risk factor for developing [[scurvy]]. Specific to public [[health policy]], a determinant is a health risk that is general, abstract, related to inequalities, and difficult for an individual to control.<ref>{{cite book| url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK233009/| title=Improving Health in the Community: A Role for Performance Monitoring: 2. Understanding Health and Its Determinants: A Model of the Determinants of Health| chapter=Understanding Health and Its Determinants|publisher=National Academy of Sciences: National Academies Press: Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Using Performance Monitoring to Improve Community Health| year=1997| isbn=978-0309055345| quote="Unlike a biomedical model that views health as the absence of disease, this dynamic framework includes functional capacity and well-being as health outcomes of interest. It also presents the behavioral and biologic responses of individuals as factors that influence health but are themselves influenced by social, physical, and genetic factors that are beyond the control of the individual."}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.who.int/hia/evidence/doh/en/| title=Health Impact Assessment (HIA): Glossary of terms used| publisher=World Health Organization| access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.who.int/hia/about/glos/en/| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040530022104/http://www.who.int/hia/about/glos/en/| url-status=dead| archive-date=May 30, 2004| title=Health Impact Assessment (HIA): The determinants of health| publisher=World Health Organization| access-date=July 20, 2019}}</ref> For example, poverty is known to be a determinant of an individual's standard of [[health]].

Risk factors may be used to identify high-risk people.