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Cancer Puzzle

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by FightWithGMAT » Mon Aug 16, 2010 10:20 pm
In Rubaria, excellent health care is available to virtually the entire population, whereas
very few people in Terland receive adequate medical care. Yet, although the death rate
for most diseases is higher in Terland than in Rubaria, the percentage of the male
population that dies from prostate cancer is significantly higher in Rubaria than in
Terland.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disparity between the prostate
cancer death rate in Rubaria and Terland?
A. Effective treatment of prostate cancer in its early stages generally requires
medical techniques available in Rubaria but not in Terland.
B. Most men who have prostate cancer are older than the average life expectancy for
male inhabitants of Terland.
C. Being in poor general health does not increase one's risk of developing prostate
cancer.
22
D. It is possible to decrease one's risk of getting prostate cancer by eating certain
kinds of foods, and such foods are more readily available in Rubaria than in
Terland.
E. Among men in Rubaria, the death rate from prostate cancer is significantly higher
for those who do not take full advantage of Rubaria's health care system than for
those who do.
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by beatthegmatinsept » Tue Aug 17, 2010 7:48 am
FightWithGMAT wrote:In Rubaria, excellent health care is available to virtually the entire population, whereas
very few people in Terland receive adequate medical care. Yet, although the death rate
for most diseases is higher in Terland than in Rubaria, the percentage of the male
population that dies from prostate cancer is significantly higher in Rubaria than in
Terland.
Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disparity between the prostate
cancer death rate in Rubaria and Terland?
A. Effective treatment of prostate cancer in its early stages generally requires
medical techniques available in Rubaria but not in Terland.
B. Most men who have prostate cancer are older than the average life expectancy for
male inhabitants of Terland.
C. Being in poor general health does not increase one's risk of developing prostate
cancer.
22
D. It is possible to decrease one's risk of getting prostate cancer by eating certain
kinds of foods, and such foods are more readily available in Rubaria than in
Terland.
E. Among men in Rubaria, the death rate from prostate cancer is significantly higher
for those who do not take full advantage of Rubaria's health care system than for
those who do.
I don't see any of the choices above as the correct answer choice. D would have been if Rubaria and Terland switched places in the answer choice. Whats the OA?
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by CosmicEnergy » Tue Aug 17, 2010 9:18 am
In Rubaria, excellent health care is available to virtually the entire population, whereas very few people in Terland receive adequate medical care. Yet, although the death rate for most diseases is higher in Terland than in Rubaria, the percentage of the male population that dies from prostate cancer is significantly higher in Rubaria than in Terland.

Which of the following, if true, most helps to explain the disparity between the prostate cancer death rate in Rubaria and Terland?

A. Effective treatment of prostate cancer in its early stages generally requires medical techniques available in Rubaria but not in Terland.

B. Most men who have prostate cancer are older than the average life expectancy for male inhabitants of Terland.

C. Being in poor general health does not increase one's risk of developing prostate cancer.

D. It is possible to decrease one's risk of getting prostate cancer by eating certain kinds of foods, and such foods are more readily available in Rubaria than in Terland.

E. Among men in Rubaria, the death rate from prostate cancer is significantly higher for those who do not take full advantage of Rubaria's health care system than for those who do.

Let us see what we have to do here:

Death rate is higher in T (Terland) than in R (Rubaria);
however, one kind of ailment (Prostate cancer) is more commonly found in R than in T.

How do we resolve this?
If people in R, who are suffering from prostate cancer, are already more likely to die because of greater age than that of T, we are done; that's what B does.

Shoot back should you have any questions.

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by debmalya_dutta » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:09 pm
my pick is B
the male in terland do not live long enough to develop prostate cancer
@Deb
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by paddle_sweep » Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:11 pm
I will go with 'B'. Pls post OA.
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by ashish2104 » Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:24 am
I was caught between B and C.

Eliminated C on grounds that argument fails to mention about development of cancer.

My pick is also B.
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by gmatmachoman » Wed Aug 18, 2010 2:05 am
Gosh, None of the options are correct!!

@Dutta/Cosmic Energy !

So u mean to say Cancer develops only after the "average life expectancy age " of Terland?
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by SeemaSkl » Wed Aug 18, 2010 12:47 pm
Does anybody think it is E? If men are not taking advantage of the better health care system in R, it is decreasing the efficiency of the system. Whereas if men in r are taking advantage of whatever little health care they have, it can explain the discrepancy.

I don't agree with B because even if people older than life expectancy in R develop prostrate cancer, the argument says they're dying of prostrate cancer not any other illness.
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by 007.r.mason » Wed Aug 18, 2010 1:37 pm
I agree that B is correct as well.

GMAT machoman --> B states a fact that adds to the facts in passage. As Cosmic energy stated, the facts are the following:

1. Health system in R better than Health system in T.
2. Yet, the percentage of men who die from disease X is greater in R than in T.

The above anomaly can be explained if we can prove that most men in T do not live long enough to have disease X. This is more math.

Lets assume that both countries have 100 men. Lets assume that average age of men in R is 85, and in T is 65. Lets assume that disease X takes place at 80 years.

Now for R, 60 men live beyond 80 (average age = 85). Assume 10% die from X = 6 men => %age = 6/100 = 6%
Now for R, 20 men live beyond 80 (average age = 65). Assume 20% die from X (since health care in X is poor) = 4 men => 4/100 = 4%

I hope that it helps!!
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by FightWithGMAT » Thu Aug 19, 2010 8:17 am
OA is B......

Now I can see why I missed this one.

Actually B is saying that most people having prostate cancer live longer in Terland.
So, though they have prostate cancer, they do not die in early age. So in a comparative time frame, we can not see most people in Terland dying of prostate cancer.......................

This was a toughy though..........I could not think anything in 2 min, but I could have eliminated E quite easily as it explains only one side.
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by mankey » Mon Feb 27, 2012 8:28 am
Very clearly B. If people dont survive only that long, how will they suffer from cancer.

Thanks.
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by killer1387 » Wed Feb 29, 2012 3:51 am
b +1
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