Question

EPIDEMIOLOGY QUESTIONS

1.) Scenario: Substance A has an associated increased health risk of 20% and the increased risk associated with substance B is 15%. When studied together, the increased risk associated with being exposed to both substance A in conjunction with substance B is 70%.

Question:   Is the health risk associated with this combination of substances synergistic? (i.e., Does it demonstrate synergy?)

2.) In at least 10-12 sentences, please explain your answer to the previous question on synergy. Be sure to support your answer with relevant information. Be sure to define basic terms and explain the relevance of your finding. Also, illustrate your answer with an appropriate mathematical example using substance A and B based on the data provided in the previous question!

3.) In at least 12-15 sentences, please explain why it is not always possible for epidemiologists to use an experimental design such as the RCT to test a hypothesis about an exposure on humans. Also as part of this, please use at least one scholarly(peer reviewed) journal article to substantiate your views.

Answer 1

1)Yes; the health risk associated with this combination of substances is synergistic.

The increased health risk associated with substance A is 20% and that associated with substance B is 15%.But if a person is exposed to both substance A and B ; the increased health risk is 70%; which is more than their individual sum (20+15=35).So it demonstrates synergy.

2)Synergy means the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts;i.e. if two person can do certain amount of work independently ; the total work done when they work together is more than the sum of their works if they had worked alone.

Risk factor is any variable(habit like cigarette smoking; substances ;events ) which increases the risk of getting a disease.For example; cigarette smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer.

The phenomenon of synergy is seen in many risk factors.Presence of two risk factors increases the risk of getting the disease more than their sum suggests.

The increased health risk associated with substance A is 20% and that associated with substance B is 15%.But if a person is exposed to both substance A and B ; the increased health risk is 70%; which is more than their individual sum (20+15=35).So it demonstrates synergy.