In: Economics
topic: The increase in overweight and obesity among adolescents.
1. What measures of association are used to indicate the presence of a public health problem? Discuss each of these measures in relation to your chosen problem.
1.Risk ratio (RR)
Is a measure of relative risk that is used to compare the risk of a health event (obesity) among one group (adolescents) with the risk among another group (not adolescents). It is calculated by dividing the risk in group 1 by the risk in group 2 where the two groups are typically differentiated by external factors such as age in this case.
2. Rate ratio
Is a measure used to compare the incidence rates of the health event i.e. obesity in this situation. In this case, it will be calculated as the rate for the group of primary interest (adolescents) divided by the rate for the comparison group.
3. Odds Ratio
Is another measure of association that quantifies the relationship between an exposure with two categories and health outcome. It represents the odds that obesity will occur given a particular exposure like adolescence (age factors), compared to the odds of the outcome occurring in the absence of that exposure.