Clinical checkups after the first and second trimesters of pregnancy

Question

Clinical checkups after the first and second trimesters of pregnancy were introduced to Country X four years ago. Medical experts claim that the following reduction of 35% in cases of premature labor, one of the main causes of still birth in Country X, is directly connected to the aforementioned clinical checkups.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the medical experts' claim?

A. The clinical checkups were intended for the early identification of women who are at risk of post-natal depression, and not for premature labor prevention.

B. Four years ago, a dozen hospitals in Country X were given new equipment to facilitate the extraction of new-born babies, thus lowering significantly the number of still births.

C. The cessation of hostilities in Country X coincided with the introduction of clinics offering checkups to pregnant women, and women in war zones are more prone to go into early labor.

D. Eight years ago, the UN launched a campaign in Country X promoting the use of medicine to reduce the cases of infections of the urinary tract, following which the percentage of woman going into premature labor was reduced by 30%.

E. Women throughout the world, including those in Country X, go into premature labor, inevitably resulting in a certain percentage of still births.

AkashM · Answer

Eliminate B and E because they are irrelevant. 
Eliminate C because it strengthens the argument. 
Eliminate D because we do not know when the reduction happened. It could have happened 7 years ago.

A remains and is the correct answer.

The statements tells us the purpose of these clinical check ups. Yes, it could be possible that there may have been a reduction in no of premature births as a result of it, but then it would not be a direct result of these check ups.

BlackHawk2478 · Answer

A Eliminate —> post-natal depression professionals are likely to bring in interdisciplinary expertise and refer the client to a premature labor prevention specialist if necessary. Doctors are generalists and any clinical check up will help consequently.

B —> Most correct as it introduces a second factor that could have caused the decline.

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B —> Most correct as it introduces a second factor that could have caused the decline.

Posted from my mobile device

winterschool · Answer

Clinical checkups after the first and second trimesters of pregnancy were introduced to Country X four years ago. Medical experts claim that the following reduction of 35% in cases of premature labor, one of the main causes of still birth in Country X, is directly connected to the aforementioned clinical checkups.

Which of the following, if true, most seriously undermines the medical experts' claim?

A. The clinical checkups were intended for the early identification of women who are at risk of post-natal depression, and not for premature labor prevention.  Incorrect

it contradicts with argument; 
Although they were not intended for early identification of women who are at risk of post-natal depression, they can be helpful to reduce still birth

B.  Four years ago, a dozen hospitals in Country X were given new equipment to facilitate the extraction of new-born babies, thus lowering significantly the number of still births.   Correct

still birth reduce not for clinical checkups but for new equipment

C. The cessation of hostilities in Country X coincided with the introduction of clinics offering checkups to pregnant women, and women in war zones are more prone to go into early labor.  Incorrect

not relevant

D. Eight years ago, the UN launched a campaign in Country X promoting the use of medicine to reduce the cases of infections of the urinary tract, following which the percentage of woman going into premature labor was reduced by 30%.  Incorrect

eight years ago fact is irrelevant

E. Women throughout the world, including those in Country X, go into premature labor, inevitably resulting in a certain percentage of still births.  Irrelevant

Anshuman0902 · Answer

hey someone please provide rationale for option A , why A is incorrect and why Option C is correct

AkashM · Answer

Medical expert's claim is that the reduction of 35% in cases of premature labor is directly connected to the clinical check ups.

A tells us that the purpose of those clinical check ups were to identify PND cases and not for premature labor prevention . But it is perfectly possible that as an indirect result of those check ups, the doctors were able to identify PL cases, consequently, leading to reduction in such cases.

(I chose A because I confused the words 'directly connected to' in the conclusion, which I have mentioned above, with 'is a direct result of'. )

Where as C tell us that another event, the end of war, happened at the same time these check ups were started. The statement goes on further to explain that women in war zones tend to go into early labor (maybe it was the anxiety or lack of nutrition that was causing the premature labor), so it is quite possible that once the war ended the women stopped going into early labor. Now, we have an alternate possibility for why there was a reduction in premature labor cases and that makes us believe a little less in the expert's claim that those medical check ups led to the reduction.

Hope that helps.

Cheers!

CodingGmat · Answer

A.  The clinical checkups were intended for the early identification of women who are at risk of post-natal depression, and not for premature labor prevention . -> Completely irrelevant. First of all, this option does not undermine the claim. Also the intention of the checkups do not matter here. Outcome is imp.

B.  Four years ago, a dozen hospitals in Country X were given new equipment to facilitate the extraction of new-born babies, thus lowering significantly the number of still births.  -> Close. But this option mentions that the new equipment was given only to a dozen hospital, whereas the reduction was across country. Also a 35% reduction is a pretty huge number. This option does not undermine the authors claim only because a dozen hospital do not seem to be. amjor contributor in reducing premature labours across the country.

C.  The cessation of hostilities in Country X coincided with the introduction of clinics offering checkups to pregnant women, and women in war zones are more prone to go into early labor.  ->This gives us another cause/ reason for the reduction in the premature labour across the country. Keep this option.

D.  Eight years ago, the UN launched a campaign in Country X promoting the use of medicine to reduce the cases of infections of the urinary tract, following which the percentage of woman going into premature labor was reduced by 30%.  -> This was 8 years ago, but the reduction mentioned in the claim started around 4 years back. So we do not have enough information here to defnitely say that instead of the clinical checkups, there was a different reason responsible for the reduction.

E.  Women throughout the world, including those in Country X, go into premature labor, inevitably resulting in a certain percentage of still births.  -> Doesn’t help at all. Directly eliminate.

Now we may argue that option C doesn’t state how much of the country was under war zone and if the number of women that are prone to go into early labor in this area form a significant proportion of the country's women, but this seems to be the strongest option amongst all. 
Also this is a question where we have to pick the best choice which would undermine the given claim. 
Answer: C

RiyaJ0032 · Answer

none of the options are correct basically

C might come close to it but is still not correct

why?

because it's not giving an alternate cause , it says clinical checkups were responsible

it's not saying anything different than what is given in the stem

Vibhatu · Answer

Bunuel  it is not "still birth", it is "stillbirth". Please correct.

Stillbirth is typically defined as fetal death at or after 20 or 28 weeks of pregnancy, depending on the source

Clinical checkups after the first and second trimesters of pregnancy

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