Mortality rate

hide

Mortality rate is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in some population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of deaths per 1000 individuals per year; thus, a mortality rate of 9.5 in a population of 100,000 would mean 950 deaths per year in that entire population. It is distinct from morbidity rate, which refers to the number of individuals in poor health during a given time period (the prevalence rate) or the number who currently have that disease (the incidence rate), scaled to the size of the population.

One distinguishes:

In regard to the success or failure of medical treatment or procedures, one would also distinguish:

Note that the crude death rate as defined above and applied to a whole population can give a misleading impression. The crude death rate depends on the age (and gender) specific mortality rates and the age (and gender) distribution of the population. The number of deaths per 1000 people can be higher for developed nations than in less-developed countries, despite life expectancy being higher in developed countries due to standards of health being better. This happens because developed countries typically have a completely different population age distribution, with a much higher proportion of older people, due to both lower recent birth rates and lower mortality rates. A more complete picture of mortality is given by a life table which shows the mortality rate separately for each age. A life table is necessary to give a good estimate of life expectancy.

For more information about Mortality rate, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.


News tagged with mortality


Older adults may have a higher risk of complications and death after abdominal surgery

Medicine & Health / Other

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

The risk of complications and early death after commonly performed abdominal surgical procedures appears to be higher among older adults, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of Surgery.





Search results for mortality


Study: Swine flu poses a threat to new moms

Medicine & Health / Diseases

created 1hour ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

(AP) -- Swine flu is not only dangerous to pregnant women, but it's a threat to new mothers too, the first study to document this risk shows. An analysis of pregnant women and new mothers who were hospitalized with swine ...


High-blood-pressure treatment for the over-80s too aggressive, warns expert

Medicine & Health / Health

created 13 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 1

People over 80 years are being treated too aggressively for high blood pressure, warns an expert in an editorial in BMJ Clinical Evidence this week.


The number of 85-year-olds will increase by a third by 2020

Medicine & Health / Health

created 14 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

Health and social care provision needs to be put in place for a large increase (33%) in the 85 year old population in the UK by 2020, according to a study published today in the British Medical Journal.


Adverse consequences of obesity may be greater than previously thought

Medicine & Health / Health

created 14 hours ago | popularity 4.2 / 5 (6) | comments 1

The link between obesity and cardiovascular mortality may be substantially underestimated, while some of the adverse consequences of being underweight may be overstated, concludes a study published in the British Medical ...


New compounds may control deadly fungal infections

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Dec 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

An estimated 25,000 Americans develop severe fungal infections each year, leading to 10,000 deaths despite the use of anti-fungal drugs. The associated cost to the U.S. health care system has been estimated at $1 billion ...


Heart transplant patients appear to have elevated risk for multiple skin cancers

Medicine & Health / Cancer

created Dec 21, 2009 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Many heart transplant patients develop multiple skin cancers, with increased risk for some skin cancers among patients with other cancers and with increasing age, according to a report in the December issue of Archives of ...



List of search results for mortality