ABSTRACT
Crude rates can be thought of as weighted averages that use person-time (population estimates) as the weights. The drowning rate for Alaska in 2010 is a standardized rate: a weighted average of stratum-specific rates by age or sex for Alaskans in 2010. Standardization history reviewed. External weights (direct standardization) described. Standardized comparisons discussed, including choice of standard weights. Standardization compared with variance minimizing methods. Internal weights: indirect standardization. The directly standardized rate ratio (SRR) is compared with the standardized mortality ratio (SMR); the SMR is the ratio of an indirectly standardized rate to crude rate of a standard population. Large and small sample methods are given for P-values and confidence intervals for standardized rates and ratios.
