Mortality in Kentucky: Jefferson and Fayette Counties Comparison Case Study

Comparison of Crude Mortality Rate

In comparison of the crude mortality rate of Jefferson and Fayette Counties, the following formula was used:

Crude mortality rate (CMR) = number of deaths/total population × 100,000

For Jefferson County (Fleming, 2015).

Number of deaths = 7,194

Total population = 746,449

Therefore, CMR = 7,194/746,499 ×100,000 = 963.76

For Fayette County (Fleming, 2015).

Number of deaths = 2,077

Total population = 299,824

Therefore, CMR = 2,077/299,824 × 100,000 = 692.74

Statistical analysis of the overall crude mortality rates shows that Jefferson county registered a higher rate (CMR = 963.76) than Fayette County (CRM = 692.74) in 2011.

The implication of Crude Mortality Rate

Calculations of the crude death rates imply people in Jefferson County have a higher risk of dying than the ones in Fayette County. The higher death rate suggests that the health conditions of people in Jefferson County are poorer when compared to those in Fayette County. In contrast, data from Centers for Disease Control and Control indicate that the crude mortality rates for Jefferson (CMR = 963.76) is lower than that of the state of Kentucky (CMR = 975.6) (Kochanek, Murphy, & Xu, 2015). Overall, Kentucky is among the top ten leading states in the death rates.

Comparison of the Age Distributions

Comparison of the populations of Jefferson and Fayette Counties depicts that they have different age distributions. Specifically, the percentage of children below 14 years is more in Jefferson County (19.21%) than in Fayette County (17.41%). In contrast, the proportion of young adults between the ages of 15 and 44 years in Fayette County (47.54%) is higher than in Jefferson County (39.79%). Further analysis shows that Jefferson County has a higher proportion of people (41.00%) aged 45 years and above than Fayette County (35.05%). The age distribution is significant in the calculation and interpretation of death rates because it accounts for the confounding effects of age. Therefore, the age distribution allows the determination of age-adjusted death rates of populations in Jefferson and Fayette Counties.

In calculating percent distribution of each age group and the two countries, the following formula was used:

Percent Distribution = (Number of individuals in the age group/total population) × 100%

Expected Deaths

The following formula was utilized to calculate the expected deaths in both Jefferson and Fayette Counties.

• Expected death = Age-specific death rate × pooled population)/100,000 (Friis, 2016)

Table 1 shows the expected deaths of each age group in Jefferson and Fayette Counties. The total expected deaths for Jefferson country (9565.90) are higher than those of Fayette County (8435.83).

Table 1.Calculation of Expected Deaths.

Age-specific Mortality Rates

The direct method was used to calculate the age-specific mortality rates for Fayette and Jefferson counties (Fleming, 2015). Comparative analysis indicates that age-specific mortality rates of people with over 54 years are more than crude mortality rates of both Jefferson and Fayette counties. This finding means that the risk of dying increases with age (Dolejs & Marešová, 2017), and it is higher than the average mortality rate of people with more than 54 years.

References

Dolejs, J., & Marešová, P. (2017). Onset of mortality increase with age and age trajectories of mortality from all diseases in the four Nordic countries. Clinical Interventions in Aging, 12, 161-173. Web.

Fleming, S. T. (2015). Capstone Case F: Mortality in Kentucky: A Comparison of Jefferson and Fayette Counties. In S. T. Fleming (Ed), Managerial epidemiology: Cases and concepts. Ann Arbor, MI: Health Administration Press.

Friis, R. H. (2016). Occupational health and safety: For the 21st century. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.

Kochanek, K. D., Murphy, S. L., & Xu, J. (2015). Deaths: Final data for 2011. National Vital Statistics Report, 63(3), 1-119. Web.