Rate Adjustment or Standardization

Question 1

What are adjusted rates?

Answer 1

• adjust for differences in population composition
• use statistical procedures to adjust for differences in characteristics between populations
• does NOT describe actual occurrence BUT are HYPOTHETICAL given certain assumptions

Question 2

What do Standardization account for?

Answer 2

accounts for the differing distributions of the underlying characteristics

Question 3

Adjustment or standardization can be carried out for any characteristic. List these characteristics.

Answer 3

• gender
• socio-economic status
• race

Question 4

What are the 2 types of adjust rates?

Answer 4

• direct method

- indirect method

Question 5

For direct Standardization what MUST you know for each population that you want to compare?

Answer 5

category-specific (age)

Question 6

What are the two ways in Choosing a Standard Population?

Answer 6

1. COMBINE (ADD) POPULATION counts from the populations you want to compare
   OR
2. use an EXTERNAL EXISTING POPULATION, such as the U.S. population

Question 7

What are the two things u need in Adjustment with a Combine Standard Population?

Answer 7

1. combine (add) population counts from the populations you want to compare
2. apply the category- specific death rates to the standard population to calculate the expected number of deaths in each population

Question 8

What are indirect adjustments?

Answer 8

• often used when numbers of outcomes (e.g. expected deaths) for each specific stratum are not available
• often preferred in studies of small populations

Question 9

What are two parts of Indirect Adjustment?

Answer 9

1. Use stratum-specific rates from a standard population

2. Compare the observed number of events to the expected number of events