Final answer:
The body is more susceptible to disease due to factors like age, gender, genetics, and environmental exposures. Certain behaviors and conditions, including smoking, poor diet, and inherited traits, also affect disease susceptibility and progression.
Step-by-step explanation:
Factors that make the body more susceptible to disease and may alter the course of the disease are diverse. These include age, gender, inherited genes, and a range of environmental factors.
Age is a significant risk factor, as the incidence of noninfectious diseases generally increases with age. Furthermore, specific diseases sometimes show a gender preference, with some types of cancer, for example, occurring more commonly in one sex over the other. The genetic makeup of an individual can also play a crucial role in susceptibility to diseases such as cystic fibrosis or in determining how likely a person is to develop conditions like metabolic syndrome, which can lead to cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes.
Environmental factors, such as exposure to pollutants like radon, unhealthy behaviors including smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity, can all contribute to diseases like metabolic syndrome. Other factors that can impact health include fatigue, certain medical treatments like chemotherapy, and inadequate nutrition, along with inherited conditions such as the sickle cell trait.