Relative Risk
In statistics and mathematical epidemiology, relative risk (RR) is the risk of an event (or of developing a disease) relative to exposure. Relative risk is a ratio of the probability of the event occurring in the exposed group versus a non-exposed group.
| Risk | Disease status | |
|---|---|---|
| Present | Absent | |
| Smoker | ||
| Non-smoker | ||
Consider an example where the probability of developing lung cancer among smokers was 20% and among non-smokers 1%. This situation is expressed in the 2 × 2 table to the right.
Here, a = 20, b = 80, c = 1, and d = 99. Then the relative risk of cancer associated with smoking would be
Smokers would be twenty times as likely as non-smokers to develop lung cancer.
Another term for the relative risk is the risk ratio because it is the ratio of the risk in the exposed divided by the risk in the unexposed.
Read more about Relative Risk: Statistical Use and Meaning, Worked Example, See Also
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