Vital Statistics

Vital Statistics Definitions

Age-Adjusted Death Rate - Sum of age-specific death rates weighted by 2000 Projected U.S. population in each age group (per 1,000 or per 100,000).

Age Group - Age ranges for mortality statistics in the Death by Year EQ Module are: less than 1; 1-14 years; 15-24 years; 25-34 years; 35-44 years; 45-54 years; 55-64 years; 65-74 years; 75-84 years; 85+ years.  These groups were also used for calculating age-adjusted rates. The age groups used for age adjustment in the Death Trends EQ Modules are: less than 25, 25 to 44, 45 to 64, 65 to 84 and 85+.

Birth rate - The number of live births per 1,000 population.  Age-specific birth rates (for example, women ages 15-25) are calculated as the number of live births per 1,000 women in age range.

Comparability Ratio - In 1999 the World Health Organization's (WHO) Tenth revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) came into effect. Since the death trend data straddles two ICD classification systems (from 9th revision to 10th revision) there will be instances where discontinuities in trends may be observed for specific causes. The Comparability Ratio measures the level of agreement between the classification regimes and is based on a double coding of conditions. A comparability ratio of 1 is indicative of agreement. A comparability ratio of 1.74 indicate that for the same cause ICD-10 would have 74% more cases than the ICD-9 classification. Note that the comparability ratios reported are for crude rates, but the trends in the module report age-adjusted rates (except for those for age-specific groups), so the comparability ratios are not directly applicable. Nevertheless, they provide a general measure of agreement across classification systems. For more information on comparability ratios, visit the National Center for Health Statistics website at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr49/nvsr49_02.pdf.

Fertility rate - The number of live births per 1,000 women aged 15-44.

Cause of Death - Class of one or more types of underlying cause of death, based on National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) definitions.

Community District - Community Districts were established by local law in 1975 and are used to review and monitor quality of life issues for New York City neighborhoods.  There are 59 Community Districts in New York City, referred to by their borough and sequence number.  These are often used to assess the geographic distribution of some characteristics such as demographic, health related or otherwise. For further information, please see:http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/lucds/cdstart.shtml

Crude Death Rate - The total number of deaths in a given year relative to the total population for that year (per 1,000 or per 100,000).

Mortality by Cause - The number of deaths due to a Cause of Death in a population each year.

Overall Mortality - The number of deaths due to all causes in a defined population for a given period of time.

Race /Ethnicity - Classification is based on race, ancestry, and Hispanic origin as recorded for the decedent on the death certificate or for the mother on a birth certificate. The categories are Non-Hispanic white, Non-Hispanic black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander, Other Race /Ethnicity, and Unknown Race /Ethnicity. See Vital Statistics Epi Query: Births and Deaths for more information.

Top 10 Leading Causes of Mortality - The number of deaths due to the top-10-ranking causes of death in a population each year.

UHF (United Hospital Fund) Neighborhood - One of 42 geographic areas that is defined by a group of zip codes.  A map of these areas may be found here.

Underlying Cause of Death - The diseases or injuries that initiated the train of events leading directly to death, or the circumstances of the accident or violence that produced the fatal injury. It is defined by rules issued by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) and code of International Classification of Diseases (ICD). The tenth revision (ICD-10) was implemented in January 1999 and has been used since then. The ninth revision (ICD-9) was implemented in 1979 and used through 1998.