COVID-19 Deaths with Standardized Rates

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Standardization techniques are used to eliminate the effect of age distribution at death rates. Since it has been observed that the risk of deaths due to COVID-19 is effected by age, this study has been carried out with the aim of comparing COVID-19 related death rates of some countries with different demographic structures by standardizing them. METHODS: The COVID-19 death data of nine countries (Australia, Canada, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland and United States) on similar dates are analyzed. The direct standardization method was applied on the data. The standard population used in the calculations is the one recommended by the World Health Organization(WHO) for standardizing mortality rates. Population estimation in age bands were obtained from the OECD data platform. RESULTS: The results show that, except for Spain and Italy (the oldest two of the group), the CDR rank and the SMR rank values are the same for all of the countries. But when a comparison of the magnitude of rates between any two countries is aimed, this comparison may be misleading with the CDR. As an example, the ratio of CDRs belonging to Italy and USA is 7, whereas this ratio is 4 when SMRs are considered. Similarly, for Italy and Australia these ratios are 127 and 86 respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Death rates in populations are affected by the age structure of the population. SMR should be used for comparing the magnitude of death rates between countries due to its benefit in eliminating the effect of age.

Keywords

• coronavirus
• mortality
• death rate