A Method for Analyzing Mortality Data Collected in Follow-up Studies

An approach to the analysis of mortality data gathered in long-term follow-up studies is described. The methodology is appropriate for situations in which it is of interest to contrast a study sample to a larger reference population. The main advantage of the approach is the ability to handle the age heterogeneity of the study group. Two variations of the general method are developed: the unconditional and conditional methods. The conditional approach is illustrated by application to data which arose in a study in psychiatric epidemiology.

Ein Weg zur Analyse von Sterbedaten aus langfristig gesammelten Nachuntersuchungen wird beschrieben. Die Methode ist auf Situationen anwendbar, in denen es von Interesse ist, eine Stichprobe aus einer Studiengruppe mit einer größeren Referenzpopulation zu vergleichen. Der wesentlichste Vorteil dieses Vorgehens ist die Möglichkeit, Altersheterogenitäten in der Studiengruppe zu behandeln. Zwei Variationen der allgemeinen Methode werden entwickelt: die unkonditionelle und die konditionelle Methode. Die konditionelle Methode wird am Beispiel von bei einer epidemiologischen Studie psychiatrischer Fälle gewonnenen Daten beschrieben.

Key-words

Survival Analysis - Standardization of Rates - Mortality Studies

Schlüssel-Wörter

Analyse von Uberlebenszeiten - Standardisierung von Raten - Mortalitätsstudien

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