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Article: Rates: Adjusted
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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RATES: ADJUSTED
Adjustment, or standardization, is a set of summarizing procedures that are intended to remove as far as possible the effects of differences in the composition of two or more populations in which one seeks to compare and contrast health experience, for example, by examining incidence or death rates or other health indicators in these populations. When one compares health indicators among populations, several kinds of differences in their composition can distort or confound the comparison. Common variables that influence health experience include age, sex, occupation, socioeconomic status, marital status, lifestyle factors such as cigarette smoking and sedentary ...