Return to Table of Contents
TECHNICAL NOTES
AGE-ADJUSTED MORTALITY RATE:
Age-adjusted mortality rates are calculated using
the direct method of standardization with 11 age
categories. The standard is the 2000 United States
Census standard million population.
AGE AND SEX-SPECIFIC DEATH RATES:
Age and sex-specific death rates are simply crude
rates for a specific subgroup of the population.
For instance, a male-specific death rate uses only
the male deaths and the male population. Likewise,
an age-specific death rate for a particular age
group (e.g., age 15-24) uses only the deaths and
population for that particular age group.
AVERAGE YEARS OF POTENTIAL LIFE LOST:
SUM(YPLL PER INDIVIDUAL)
AVERAGE YPLL = ------------------------
NUMBER OF DEATHS
CAUSE-OF-DEATH RANKING:
The rankings use the adapted List of 39 Selected
Causes of Death and, for infants, the Adapted List
of 130 Selected Causes of Infant Death. This allows
comparisons with U.S. data from the National Center
for Health Statistics. All groups with only one
death are in the "All other causes" category. The
lowest ranking printed is 15.
CRUDE OR UNADJUSTED DEATH RATE:
NUMBER OF DEATHS
RATE = -------------------- * 100,000
POPULATION OF AREA
POPULATION ESTIMATES:
The 2000 age-sex-county estimates are based on
population projections by the United States Census
Bureau.
YEARS OF POTENTIAL LIFE LOST (YPLL):
BEFORE AGE 75: The YPLL is calculated by
subtracting the age at death from age 75 and then
summing over all individuals. If the individual is
past his or her 65th birthday, the value is set to
zero.
BEFORE LIFE EXPECTANCY: For individuals dying
before their age-sex-specific life expectancy as
listed in Life Tables 2 & 3, U.S. Decennial Life
Tables For 1979-1981, Volume II, State Life Tables,
Number 4, Arkansas, DHHS Publication (PHS) 86-1151-4.
This calculation is similar to the above calculation,
however, instead of subtracting age at last birthday
from age 65, age at last birthday is subtracted from
the given life expectancy listed in the above reference
and then summed over individuals.
MAPS:
U.S. and AR rates, when available, are for 2000.
AR MEAN is the mean of the individual county rates (not shown).
SHADING - DARK more than one standard deviation above the AR MEAN
- MEDIUM within (+/-) one standard deviation of the AR MEAN
- LIGHT more than one standard deviation below the AR MEAN
INTERPRETATION OF CRUDE AND AGE-ADJUSTED MORTALITY RATES
Relative Status of Rates:
Crude Adjusted Crude Rate Interpretation
LOW LOW Low rate not due to age; other
conditions are favorable.
LOW HIGH Low rate due to favorable age
factor; other conditions are
unfavorable.
HIGH LOW High rate due to unfavorable age
factor; other conditions are
favorable.
HIGH HIGH High rate not due to age factor;
other conditions are unfavorable.
Return to Table of Contents