nevada vital statistics 2001-2003 - Nevada State Health Division ...

REGIONAL COMPARISONS:
Approximately eighty-six percent (86%) of Nevada’s population resides in the urban areas of Clark (Greater
Las Vegas area) and Washoe (Greater Reno/Sparks area) Counties. In this report, data are frequently stratified
into three regions within the State as follows: Clark County, Washoe County, and All Other Counties (all
remaining 15 counties).
AGE ADJUSTMENT METHODS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF MORTALITY RATES:
In order to make meaningful comparisons between mortality rates for residents from different regions or
different racial/ethnic groups, differences in the age characteristics of each population should be taken into
account. For example, one would expect that the mortality rate for heart disease would be high in a population
that has a high proportion of older individuals.
Age-adjustment is the application of the age-specific rates in a population of interest to a standardized age
distribution in order to eliminate the differences in observed rates that result from age differences in the
populations being compared. This adjustment is usually done when comparing two or more populations at one
point in time or one population at two or more points in time.
In this report, the death rates are age-adjusted to the 2000 US Standard distribution population (relative age
distribution of the 2000 enumerated population of the United States totaling 1,000,000). This method produces
the rate that would be expected if the population of interest had the same population age distribution as the
standard population.
Adjusted rates were calculated in the following manner:
• The expected number of deaths in each age group was determined by multiplying the age-
specific rates (Ni/Pi) by the corresponding age-specific standard population total (Si).
• Age adjusted rates (AAR) per 100,000 population were calculated by dividing the expected total
number of deaths (Ei) by the total standard population and multiplying by 100,000.
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