"drivers of disease" is correct and usable in written English.
You can use it to refer to the underlying factors which lead to a medical condition or the spread of an illness. For example, "Poor sanitation and overcrowding are two of the most critical drivers of disease in developing countries."
Other areas of medicine, cancer in particular, have been transformed by better understanding of the biological drivers of disease.
This suggests that shifts in behavioural drivers of disease, such as diet, exercise and obesity, might be more important.
While some mutations will be common drivers of disease, the genetic faults that cause cancer in one patient may look very different to those in another.
I sent her some reactions to her working paper from a variety of scientists and risk analysts conducting or evaluating epidemiological research examining environmental drivers of disease (which I'm appending below).
"Despite groundbreaking discoveries around genetic drivers of disease, few patients benefit from DNA-based treatment options.
The products of post-transcriptional and genomic variations, including non-coding genetic elements and copy number variations are drivers of disease initiation and progression.
We are examining these issues as part of the Dynamic Drivers of Diseases in Africa Consortium.
"So we need to be aware that we are unable to manage factors like dredging, climate change and agriculture, that could also be drivers of diseases, with marine reserves alone," said Lamb.
Yet some researchers take another view: the greatest driver of disease in old age is old age itself.
Drug disorders saw a more dramatic rise (tenth from 17th), as did Alzheimer's disease (12th from 25th) and chronic kidney disease (17th from 27th).The top driver of disease is a bad diet.
Smoking is the second leading driver of disease, followed by a high body mass index (a measure of obesity), high blood pressure, high blood-sugar levels and a lack of exercise.The question is what might be done.
