Communicating Multiple Disease Risks

Epidemiology seeks to improve public health by identifying risk factors for cancer and other
diseases and conveying that information to relevant audiences. The audience is presumed to
understand and use that information to make appropriate decisions about lifestyle behaviors
and medical treatments. Yet, even though a single risk factor can affect the risk of multiple
health outcomes, this information is seldom communicated to people in a way that optimizes
their understanding of the importance of engaging in a single healthy behavior. Providing
individuals with the ability to understand how a single behavior (obtaining sufficient
physical activity) could affect their risk of developing multiple diseases could foster a
more coherent and meaningful picture of the behavior's importance in reducing health risks,
increase motivation and intentions to engage in the behavior, and over time improve public
health.

The proposed study translates epidemiological data about five diseases that cause significant
morbidity and mortality (i.e., colon cancer, breast cancer (women), heart disease, diabetes,
and stroke) into a visual display that conveys individualized risk estimates in a
comprehensible, meaningful, and useful way to diverse lay audiences.