What does it mean to you to have a high or low risk of a heart attack, or a hip fracture? Is a 20% risk over 10 years a high risk? This course will review the concept of risk as it pertains to health care and analyze what it means to the individual. To do so we will explore the definitions and types of health risk, modifiable and unmodifiable risk factors, and then explore on line risk calculators to demonstrate how to understand health risk and the impact of interventions to lower health risk. We will look at how risk calculators are derived . We will use them to explore the meaning of risk to a person for the conditions of heart disease, osteoporosis, colon cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer by examining the impact of changing modifiable risk factors in the calculator. The participant should come away with a better understanding of health risk from the point of view of what actions would be most meaningful to change risk.

This course will combine lecture with class discussions.