Final answer:
Residual risk is the probability of disease that persists even after a preventative strategy is applied. Statistical analysis of a study with a treatment and a control group indicates if the treatment has effectively reduced the disease prevalence.
Step-by-step explanation:
The risk that remains after a control has been applied is called residual risk. In the context of the question where a new preventative medication was tested on a group of patients, residual risk refers to the probability of illness that persists even after applying the preventative strategy. In a hypothetical scenario, 224 patients were treated and 45 developed the disease, compared to 68 in the untreated control group. Statistical analysis can be employed to determine whether the treatment effectively reduced the disease prevalence. If the results demonstrate a significant reduction, then it implies that the treatment indeed lowers the disease risk among patients.
However, since 45 patients still contracted the illness despite receiving the medication, this risk is referred to as the residual risk. Notably, the ultimate goal in healthcare is to minimize this residual risk to protect patient health.