Harvard Expands Popular Website to Include Risk Assessments for Cancer, Heart Disease, Stroke, Diabetes, and Osteoporosis
Website Recommendations Could Help Prevent
Over Half of All Chronic Disease in the U.S.
Monday, June 28, 2004
Boston, MA – The Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention announced the launch of Your
Disease Risk (http://www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu/),
an expanded version of its popular cancer risk assessment website, Your Cancer
Risk. Your Disease Risk offers users the chance to find out their risk of five
of the most important diseases in the United States and get personalized tips
for preventing them.
Heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and osteoporosis now join the 12 cancers
included in the original website. Together, these diseases have a staggering
impact on the nation’s health, but they are also highly preventable and share
many of the same risk factors. Healthy lifestyles could prevent over 80 percent
of heart disease and diabetes, 70 percent of strokes, and 50 percent of cancers.
“Your Disease Risk pulls all these important diseases into one place
and offers people consistent, practical prevention messages for each,” said
Dr. Graham Colditz, Director of the Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention at the
Harvard School of Public Health. “The far-reaching benefits of a healthy
lifestyle become apparent as people click through the site and see that a single
risk factor can impact their risk of many diseases -- something we hope will
inspire them to make healthy behavior changes.”
As with the original site, users fill out brief questionnaires and get
descriptions of their risk in the form of a colored bar graph. The bar graph is
a 7-level scale that compares users to typical men or women their age. Users can
click on personalized strategies to learn where to focus their prevention
efforts and how to make lifestyle changes. With each click, the bar graph
shrinks, and users watch their risk drop.
Your Disease Risk was developed with the same evidence-based, consensus
approach that was used for the original cancer site, Your Cancer Risk.
Epidemiologists, clinicians, and other faculty experts from the Harvard medical
community reviewed the current scientific evidence for each disease, identifying
the established and probable risk factors of each. This information was then
used to develop calculations that generate a person’s risk of disease compared
to population averages by age and sex.
“Your Disease Risk is an excellent health checkpoint for people,”
continued Dr. Colditz. “You can enter the site, and find out within a few
minutes what your risk is and how to lower it. This interactive approach really
seems to resonate with people, given the popularity of our cancer site.”
Your Disease Risk: http://www.yourdiseaserisk.harvard.edu/
For additional information visit the Your
Disease Risk media information page.
Based at the Harvard School of Public Health, the Harvard Center for Cancer
Prevention promotes prevention as the primary approach to controlling cancer and
other chronic diseases. Established in 1994, the Center draws on Harvard's
strengths in public health and medicine and on the expertise of leading cancer
researchers worldwide. The Center conducts and summarizes research into causes
of cancer and then translates these findings into priorities for cancer
prevention strategies. For more information on the Center visit www.hsph.harvard.edu/cancer
Your Cancer Risk was launched in 2000 and received over 1 million hits
its first day online. It has averaged 900 to 1000 unique visitors every day for
the past four years, making it the most successful website at the Harvard School
of Public Health.
For further information please contact:
Michelle Samplin-Salgado
Harvard Center for Cancer Prevention
617.998.1033
Harvard School of Public Health is dedicated to advancing the public's health through learning, discovery, and communication. More than 300 faculty members are engaged in teaching and training the 900-plus student body in a broad spectrum of disciplines crucial to the health and well being of individuals and populations around the world. Programs and projects range from the molecular biology of AIDS vaccines to the epidemiology of cancer; from risk analysis to violence prevention; from maternal and children's health to quality of care measurement; from health care management to international health and human rights.