Indirect standardisation (cont.)

Summary

In indirect standardisation, we apply a set of standard age-specific death rates to the real age structure of the study population, and compare the total number of expected deaths with the number actually observed.

The ratio of observed to expected deaths is called the standardised mortality ratio (SMR).

Exercise

Interaction In the table below, click on the cells to identify which information is essential to perform indirect standardisation.

  Study Population Standard Population
The age-specific mortality rates for
 
 
The age structure of:
 
 
The total number of deaths in:
 
 

 

No, this information is not essential, but we do need to know the age-specific mortality rates for the standard population.
Yes, that's right.
Yes, we need to know the age distribution of the study population in order to calculate the expected number of deaths.
This is not essential for the calculation, but we must know the age structure of the study population.
Yes, we must know the total observed number of deaths in the study population so we can compare this with the expected number that we calculate.
This is not essential for the calculation, but we must know the number of deaths in the study population so we can compare with the expected number.