[EAS] Disease Risk Calculator

[Peter J. Kindlmann]

(from INNOVATION, 8 November 2006)

PERSONALIZED DISEASE RISK CALCULATIONS AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT
      Everyone worries about future health problems, but here's a site 
that provides personalized predictions of your risk for disease and 
what you can do to mitigate it. The Harvard Center for Cancer 
Prevention's <http://www.yourdiseaserisk.com> site provides a series 
of questionnaires that visitors can fill out online to find their 
individual risk quotient for a specific disease and the factors that 
contribute to it. "We started this because people didn't appear to 
understand how much of cancer or other diseases can be prevented with 
changes of lifestyle," says Center director Graham Colditz. Diseases 
you can calculate risk for include 12 different types of cancer, as 
well as heart disease, stroke, diabetes and osteoporosis. (Wall 
Street Journal 31 Oct 2006)
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116225793407508406.html>

--------------------------------------
I found the Harvard site quite interesting, even compellingly so. 
(Not so the WSJ article which I can't read because I don't have a 
subscription.)
It is nicely set up, so that for multiple queries all previous 
relevant questionnaire answers are remembered. And the final risk 
assessment is accompanied by click boxes for items that you didn't 
claim but that would have lowered your risk. By clicking them your 
recomputed risk tells you how much of an additional health benefit 
they would be. A nice instance of good information design.  --PJK