Which term describes the risk of developing a disease relative to exposure?

The term that describes the risk of developing a disease relative to exposure is best defined as "odds ratio." The odds ratio is a measure that compares the odds of an event (or disease) occurring in an exposed group to the odds of it occurring in a non-exposed group. It provides a quantifiable estimate of the strength of the association between an exposure and an outcome, making it a crucial metric in epidemiological studies, particularly case-control studies.

Prevalence refers to the total number of cases of a disease in a population at a specific time, while incidence measures the number of new cases that develop in a given time frame within a population. Both prevalence and incidence are important epidemiological concepts, but they do not directly measure the relative risk associated with an exposure.

The relative ratio is not a standard epidemiological term and can cause confusion. Thus, the odds ratio is the most accurate term relating specifically to the risk of disease development linked to an exposure, indicating how much more likely the disease is to occur in the exposed group compared to the unexposed group.