AA Rate for Custom Age Group

Introduction - Age-adjusted rates are normally calculated taking all available ages into consideration. The DSHS Health Promotion and Chronic Disease Prevention Section staff suggested to allow calculation for any given age group. There is nothing wrong with the idea. I also asked the DSHS Center for Health Statistics for input.

A normal age-adjusted rate takes all deaths into account, except those with unknown age. With the new idea, the AA rate might be calculated for age group 21-49, for example.

Output documentation - To prevent possible misinterpretation, output would prominently show that only an age subset was used to calculate the age-adjusted rate.

When to allow - Since most users are confused enough about age-adjusted rates without further complications, the option for custom age groups would only be for versions used by expert staff. To prevent user confusion, a public version of Vitalnet would not include the option.

VitalPro Menu Setup - VitalPro Main Menu will show "AA custom group lo end", with default of 0, and "AA custom group hi end", with default of 99+. Each submenu will allow selection of a single value, eg 21. Not sure how it will deal with nonsense selection, such as 49 lo end, 21 hi end.

VitalPro might be configured to only show the AA custom group option when AA rate statistic is selected. This prevents confusion by only presenting menu options when they are relevant.

Vitalnet Maps - The option would be equally valid (or not so valid) for tables and maps.

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