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What does a relative risk of 1 indicate about an exposure and a disease?
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In the context of epidemiology, a relative risk of 1 indicates that there is no association between the exposure and the disease being studied.1
This means that the incidence of the event is the same in both the exposed group and the baseline (unexposed) group. Conversely, a relative risk other than 1 indicates that an association exists, with values greater than 1 suggesting an increased risk and values less than 1 suggesting a protective effect.1