Elderly women who have suffered heart attacks are five times more like

Question

Elderly women who have suffered heart attacks are five times more likely to develop dementia than are other elderly women. Therefore,  steps taken to prevent heart attacks, such as dieting, may also prevent dementia . Other studies have shown vision loss to be more common among elderly women who have suffered heart attacks. Thus, demented elderly women are much more likely to suffer from vision loss than are other elderly women.

The statement highlighted in boldface plays which of the following roles in the argument?

A. It is an assumption made by the author in constructing the argument.
B. It contradicts part of the author's conclusion.
C. It is the main conclusion to which the author is proceeding.
D. It acts as the principal piece of evidence for the conclusion that the author draws.
E. It is a conclusion drawn by the author but not relevant to the main point.

meenal8284 · Answer

trying elimination:

Elderly women who have suffered heart attacks are five times more likely to develop dementia than are other elderly women. Therefore,  steps taken to prevent heart attacks, such as dieting, may also prevent dementia . Other studies have shown vision loss to be more common among elderly women who have suffered heart attacks. Thus, demented elderly women are much more likely to suffer from vision loss than are other elderly women.

The statement highlighted in boldface plays which of the following roles in the argument?

A)It is an assumption made by the author in constructing the argument:  assumptions bridge evidence to conclusion... here... the statement looks is a conclusion or inference (since it is followed by therefore) 
B)It contradicts part of the author's conclusion.  immediately eliminated 
C)It is the main conclusion to which the author is proceeding.  cant say because this para seems to dealing with 2 diff.. the sequence and tone dsnt suggest that this conclusion is based on the information that all the other statements provide. 
D)It acts as the principal piece of evidence for the conclusion that the author draws.  The statement follows from the info provided in the first statemnt. it is not evidence for sure (it dsnt support anything) 
E)It is a conclusion drawn by the author but not relevant to the main point:  this is a googly.. this is exactly opposite of point C... However, the edge here is that the second conclusion comes from "other" studies as well as the premise. hence it supports the thought that the first one could be ancilliary conclusion but not the main

E looks correct

kylexy · Answer

"Therefore, steps taken to prevent heart attacks, such as dieting, may also prevent dementia."

This sentence may well be taken as conclusion and an assumption.Thats what makes this question more confusing.

conclusion since it has  therefore  iin the beginning and assumption because it has  may also  at the end.

but for me its still a conclusion based on the evindence and assumptions stated in the first line.
since its a secondary conclusion..rule out the the first 3 options.
its not an evidence either so only otion is E.

netcaesar please provide the correct answer..since this is really a very gud question.

mc · Answer

I think it's E. The bold portion adds nothing to the argument, which is basically, "dementia and vision loss rates are similar because of their relation to heart attacks", so A is eliminated.

AbhayPrasanna · Answer

The main conclusion is demented eldelry women are more likely to suffer from vision loss.

The bold statement is an intermediate conclusion, but it is not required for the main conclusion.

I would therefore pick E.

zuperman · Answer

Seem to agree with E.  The main conclusion drawn is demented elderly women are more likely to suffer from vision loss.  This is derived by correlating  heart attack in elderly women=5 times probability of dementia   (1st line of the argument)  with  heart attack in elderly women=Vision loss . The bold face is simply an interim conclusion stating  if we prevent heart attack we might be successful in preventing dementia  which has no connection to the correlation drawn in the conclusion. I can actually remove this sentence from the argument and still derive the same main conclusion.

PTK · Answer

Here the main point is heart attacks and their influences over the health of elderly women. There are two consequences here: vision loss and risk to develop dementia. - this is the main point. 
One conclusion is - Thus, demented elderly women are much more likely to suffer from vision loss than are other elderly women - Here you have like a Venn Diagramm, intersection being demented elderly women who suffered hear attacks. 
 Boldfaced conclusion - steps taken to prevent heart attacks, such as dieting, may also prevent dementia - is about how to prevent the dementia. is it relevant?! No!

If it still seems relevant for you just read the argument and skip the boldfaced sentence. It does not affecе the conclusion.

Hence it is E.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Elderly women who have suffered heart attacks are five times more like

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