In 1994, the most common eye-related disease from which Americans

Hi Amanarora87

the answer is E because,

Incidence of conjuctivitis is same across all age groups. By 2010 there will be many >50aged people and hence more people likely to suffer from Conjuctivitis.

Does that make sense.

shriramvelamuri - Yes i read it a few times over and I get why E is the answer.
I mistook the meaning of incidence rate to be the number of people afflicted in an age group. However, I understand now that it means the percentage of the people across all age groups.
Thank you

Can Someone explain why option B is wrong?

There is no information in the argument which may help us arrive at such definite conclusion ( Note the use of will - which indicates certainty).

The argument is about the likelihood/incidence rate of the diseases.

This is an inference-MUST be TRUE- question and so E is the only possibility that WILL happen.

We have to find the conclusion based on the given premises

Premises:-
1) Conjunctivitis is the most common eye disorder and Glaucoma is the DISTANT second.
2) Glaucoma is common in >= 50 yrs age group and conjunctivitis is common among all age groups
3) The average age of americans will EXCEED to 50 by 2010

With the given premises we can conclude below information:-
1) There is significant difference in number of patients suffering from Conjunctivitis and Glaucoma
2) Currently the average age of americans is below 50 and population suffering from conjunctivitis has average age less than 50 years.
3) By 2010, when the average age will increase, average age of patient suffering from conjunctivitis will also increase.

a. conjunctivitis will remain the most common eye-related disease among Americans in 2010. May be true if the population will suffer more from conjunctivitis. What if there will be more cases of glaucoma? this doesn’t give us 100% true conclusion

b. By the year 2010, glaucoma will overtake conjunctivitis as the most common eye-related disease. May be true if increase in average age is depiction of increase in people over 50 years to suffer from Glaucoma. But what if people over 50 years of age will continue to suffer from conjunctivitis more than from glaucoma

c. More people will suffer from conjunctivitis in 2010 than did in 1994. There is no data given about number of people that will suffer from either of the disease

d. Most Americans will encounter either conjunctivitis or glaucoma by 2010. May be true. But there could be some people who will not encounter either of the disease

e. The average age of Americans suffering from conjunctivitis will increase between 1994 and 2010. This is correct as we analysed above

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Hope it clarifies.