Smoke in the water

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Smoke in the water

by sourabh33 » Sun May 22, 2011 10:51 pm
An international study recently examined the effects of second hand smoke on health. surprisingly, although the dosages of harmful chemicals form second hand smoke are so small that their effect should be negligible, the study found that nonsmoking spouses of smokers displayed an incidence of heart disease that was significantly greater than that of nonsmokers who were not as regularly exposed to second hand smoke.

Each of the following if true could contribute to an explanation of the unexpectedly high incidence of heart disease in smoker's spouses EXCEPT:

A. A disproportionately high number of people married to smokers are among the older segment of the married population, a group that inherently has a higher than average risk of heart disease

B. on average, more alcohol and coffee both of which have been linked to heart disease, are consumed in the homes of smokers than in the homes of nonsmokers.

C. A disproportionately high number of smokers are married to other smokers and the risk of heart disease increases in proportion to the number of smokers living in a household.

D. Smokers generally tend to live in higher stress environments than do non smokers and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease.

E.A disproportionately high number of smokers live in areas with a high level of industrial pollutants, which have been shown to be a factor in increased risk of heart disease
Last edited by sourabh33 on Mon May 23, 2011 2:31 am, edited 1 time in total.

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by smackmartine » Sun May 22, 2011 11:35 pm
IMO C

The argument talks about smokers and their non smoking spouse.

A and B clearly shows that other factors contribute to an explanation of high incidence of heart disease. In A,old segment of married population with higher than average risk of heart disease. In B, alcohol and coffee have been linked to heart disease.

C is the only option which mentions about smokers and their smoker spouses. It add little to an explanation of high incidence of heart disease among non smoking spouse.

D and E mention stress and industrial pollutants to be factors in increased risk of heart disease. Both D and E may imply that smoker could have non smoking spouse.

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by atulmangal » Mon May 23, 2011 1:28 am
+1 for D

btw u made a typo error in the argument, here in red

An international study recently examined the effects of second hand smoke on health. surprisingly, although the dosages of harmful chemicals form second hand smoke are so small that their effect should be negligible, the study found that nonsmoking souses of smokers displayed an incidence of heart disease that was significantly greater than that of nonsmokers who were not as regularly exposed to second hand smoke.

souses:-- this word has a completely diff meaning...

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by ankurmit » Mon May 23, 2011 2:21 am
IMO D

"Smokers generally tend to live in higher stress environments than do non smokers and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease".


It does not talk about spouses of smokers and even if smokers live in stressed environment than we can't asume that it will increase chances of heart attack in their spouses.
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by sourabh33 » Mon May 23, 2011 2:31 am
Typo corrected

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by champmag » Mon May 23, 2011 2:56 am
+1 for D

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by sourabh33 » Mon May 23, 2011 3:42 am
OA is C

Source: Kaplan 800

OE -> similar to smackmartine's

An international study recently examined the effects of second hand smoke on health. surprisingly, although the dosages of harmful chemicals form second hand smoke are so small that their effect should be negligible, the study found that nonsmoking spouses of smokers displayed an incidence of heart disease that was significantly greater than that of nonsmokers who were not as regularly exposed to second hand smoke.

Option C: Talks about smoking couples and not non smoking spouse.

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by atulmangal » Mon May 23, 2011 7:01 am
ankurmit wrote:IMO D

"Smokers generally tend to live in higher stress environments than do non smokers and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease".


It does not talk about spouses of smokers and even if smokers live in stressed environment than we can't asume that it will increase chances of heart attack in their spouses.
This is exactly what i thought and picked Op D as my answer.

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by ankurmit » Mon May 23, 2011 7:13 am
atulmangal wrote:
ankurmit wrote:IMO D

"Smokers generally tend to live in higher stress environments than do non smokers and stress is a factor associated with above average incidence of heart disease".


It does not talk about spouses of smokers and even if smokers live in stressed environment than we can't asume that it will increase chances of heart attack in their spouses.
This is exactly what i thought and picked Op D as my answer.

But surprisingly OA is c and I could not understand how :)
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by KapTeacherEli » Mon May 23, 2011 9:41 am
D) The GMAT generally rewards people who can avoid making unnecessary assumptions, but we still can use our common sense: it's safe to assume that spouses live together. If the data tell us that smokers are more likely to live in high-stress environments, it follows that non-smokers married to smokers are more likely to live in a high-stress environment than non-smokers married to fellow non-smokers. (the reverse is also true, but the risk of heart disease in smokers isn't relevant here)

C, however, specifically addresses smoking couples--a group explicitly excluded from the prompt. C is irrelevant to the stimulus, and is thus the correct answer.

Hope this helps!
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Cambridge, MA
www.kaptest.com/gmat

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