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Direct method of standardization

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Direct method of standardization  (DIRECT method of standardization)


Crude death rates (401-4) will depend on the structure (particularly the age structure (325-6)) of the population as well as on the level of mortality. If the mortality of different populations is to be compared, standardized mortality rates1 or adjusted mortality rates1 are sometimes computed to eliminate the effect of differences in population structure (144-4). Age is the characteristic for which mortality rates are adjusted most frequently by reference to a standard population2 with a given structure. If specific rates (134-6) for the population studied are available, it is possible to proceed by the direct method of standardization3 which consists of applying these rates to the corresponding groups of the standard population. The indirect method of standardization4 may be used to yield comparative mortality indices5. These are employed for the same purpose as standardized mortality rates. They are computed by applying standard mortality rates6 to the different groups of the population studied and summing these to obtain an expected number of deaths. Their value is obtained by comparing the observed deaths7 in the population with the expected deaths8 which would have occurred had the standard rates applied.

  • 1. standardize v. — standardized adj. — standardization n., the process of standardizing.
  • 5. If a crude death rate (401-4) is multiplied by a comparative mortality index, we obtain an indirectly standardized death rate. In British official terminology, when occupational mortality is studied, the figure obtained by direct standardization is called a comparative mortality figure, and that obtained by indirect a standardized mortality ratio.


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