In: Nursing
Describe the difference between relative and absolute risk. Which one would you use to convince community members to change a behavior or exposure of your choice? Why?
RELATIVE RISK | ABSOLUTE RISK | |
DEFINITION | it is the ratio of incidence of disease among exposed and the incidence of disease among non-exposed | It is the proportion of people who experienced an undesirable effect in each group |
It is the direst measure of the strength of association between suspected cause and effect | It can be computed for both those exposed to an intervention and for those not exposed | |
INTERPRETATION |
RR=1: no association RR>1: positive association between exposure and disease |
Relative risk is the one which would be used to convince the community members to change a behaviour or exposure because it indicates an association between suspected cause and effect. it also signifies the strength of relationship. the larger the relative risk the greater the strenght of relationship