HSS 4303 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Occupational Disease, Reference Group

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Health Sciences
• Course: HSS 4303
• Professor: Raywat Deonandan

Document Summary

There is a concern that the nuclear power plant in rawyatville is causing cancer. Rate rates due to cancer are computed and compared to the ones in gomesland. Csf in raywatville is shown to be higher. Way to make two populations more comparable by adjusting one or both to conform to an external standard. Age is the most common form of standardization. Define a reference population which serves as standard against which the test populations will be set. Usually the national census, sometimes one of the two test populations can be used as standard. Estimates rate that would have been observed if the study population had the same age as reference group. Commonly used in report of vital statistics (mortality) or disease incidence trends (cancer research) Computes number of cases of disease that could have been expected if the disease rates from the reference population had applied in the study population.