Practice question · Multiple choice
Lowering everyone's blood pressure by 2 mmHg prevents more heart attacks than treating the highest-risk 5% intensively, although no individual gains much. Why does the small shift win?
Hints
- Count the people, not the risk. How many sit in the middle of the distribution?
- A small probability multiplied by a very large number can beat a large probability times a small one.
Show the answer
D. Because most cases come from the majority at modest risk
Why
Rose's prevention paradox: risk is concentrated but cases are not, because the unremarkable middle is so much larger. It explains salt reduction and speed limits, measures that offer each person almost nothing and prevent more harm than any clinic, and are resented for exactly that reason.
Practise Community Health Psychology
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