Health and Disease
Practise Health and Disease for GCSE Biology with this free worksheet and full mark scheme — Foundation and Higher exam-style questions with worked answers for AQA, Edexcel and OCR. Health is a state of physical and mental wellbeing, and different diseases can interact — for example a weakened immune system leaving the body open to other infections.
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These worksheets and mark schemes are original, written for Virtus Academy and checked against the current AQA, Edexcel and OCR specifications. Every worksheet comes with a full mark scheme.
Topic overview
Health is defined as the state of physical and mental wellbeing. It is not merely the absence of disease, and that distinction matters in exam answers.
Diseases are a major cause of ill health, and they fall into two groups. Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens and can be passed from person to person. Non-communicable diseases, such as cancer and coronary heart disease, cannot be spread.
Other factors also affect health: diet, stress and life situation all contribute. Different types of disease may interact — for example, defects in the immune system make a person more likely to suffer from infectious disease, and viruses in cells can trigger cancers.
Revision notes
Defining health
Health is the state of physical and mental wellbeing, not simply the absence of disease.
Diseases are a major cause of ill health, but diet, stress and life situation also affect both physical and mental health.
Communicable and non-communicable
Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens and can spread between people or animals — measles, tuberculosis and malaria are examples.
Non-communicable diseases cannot be spread. Coronary heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes are examples, and they often develop over a long period.
Interactions between diseases
Defects in the immune system make a person more likely to suffer from infectious disease.
Viruses living in cells can trigger cancers. Immune reactions caused by a pathogen can trigger allergies such as asthma. Severe physical ill health can lead to depression and other mental illness.
Key points
- Health is physical and mental wellbeing.
- Health is not just the absence of disease.
- Communicable diseases are caused by pathogens and can spread.
- Non-communicable diseases cannot be spread.
- Diet, stress and life situation also affect health.
- Different types of disease can interact.
Worked examples
Example 1
Define health. [1 mark]
Model answer
Health is the state of physical and mental wellbeing (1 mark).
Example 2
Give one example of a communicable disease and one example of a non-communicable disease. [2 marks]
Model answer
Communicable: measles, tuberculosis or malaria (1 mark). Non-communicable: cancer, coronary heart disease or type 2 diabetes (1 mark).
Example 3
Explain how a defect in the immune system can affect a person's health. [2 marks]
Model answer
A defective immune system is less able to defend the body against pathogens (1 mark), so the person is more likely to suffer from communicable diseases (1 mark).
Common mistakes
Defining health as the absence of disease.
It is the state of physical and mental wellbeing — a positive definition, not a negative one.
Calling cancer communicable.
Cancer cannot be spread from person to person, so it is non-communicable.
Forgetting mental health.
The definition includes mental as well as physical wellbeing.
Saying diseases never interact.
They frequently do, and the interactions are examinable.
Exam tips
- Use the full definition including mental wellbeing.
- Learn one clear example of each disease type.
- Be ready to describe an interaction between disease types.
- Mention diet, stress and life situation as other factors.
Key terms
- Health
- The state of physical and mental wellbeing.
- Communicable disease
- A disease caused by a pathogen that can be spread.
- Non-communicable disease
- A disease that cannot be transmitted between people.
- Pathogen
- A microorganism that causes disease.
Related topics
Written and reviewed against the current AQA, Edexcel and OCR specifications. Spotted an error? Let us know.