Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
DID YOU KNOW?
If the numerator and denominator of a ratio together make up an entire population, the ratio
can be converted to a proportion by adding the numerator and denominator to form the
denominator of the proportion.
the numerator from the denominator to get the number of clinic patients who were not women (i.e.,
the number of men): 341 - 179 = 162 men. Thus, the ratio of women to men could be calculated
from the proportion as
Ratio = [179/(341 - 179)] × 1 = 179/162 = 1.1 to 1 female-to-male ratio
8.2.2.2 A Specific Type of Environmental Health: Proportionate Mortality
Proportionate mortality is the proportion of deaths in a specified population during a period of time
that are attributable to different causes. Each cause is expressed as a percentage of all deaths, and
the sum of the causes adds up to 100%. These proportions are not rates because the denominator is
all deaths, not the size of the population in which the deaths occurred. Table 8.1 lists the primary
causes of death in the United States in 2003 for persons of all ages and for persons ages 25 to 44
years, by number of deaths, proportionate mortality, and rank. As illustrated in Table 8.1, the pro-
portionate mortality for HIV was 0.5% among all age groups, and 5.3% among those ages 25 to 44
years. In other words, HIV infection accounted for 0.5% of all deaths, and 5.3% of the deaths among
25 to 44 year olds.
TABLE 8.1
Number, Proportionate Mortality, and Ranking of Deaths for Leading Causes of Death,
All Ages and 25- to 44-Year Age Group—United States, 2003
All Ages
Ages 25-44 Years
Number
Percentage
Rank
Number
Percentage
Rank
All causes
2,443,930
100.0
—
128,924
100.0
—
Diseases of heart
684,462
28.0
1
16,283
12.6
3
Malignant hepatitis
554,643
22.7
2
19,041
14.8
2
Cerebrovascular disease
157,803
6.5
3
3004
2.3
8
Chronic lower respiratory diseases
126,128
5.2
4
401
0.3
—
a
Accidents (unintentional injuries)
105,695
4.3
5
27,844
21.6
1
Diabetes mellitus
73,965
3.0
6
2662
2.1
9
Influenza & pneumonia
64,847
2.6
7
1337
1.0
10
Alzheimer's disease
63,343
2.6
8
0
0.0
—
a
Nephritis, nephritic syndrome, nephrosis
33,615
1.4
9
305
0.2
—
a
Septicemia
34,243
1.4
10
328
0.2
—
a
Intentional self-harm (suicide)
30,642
1.3
11
11,251
8.7
4
Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis
27,201
1.1
12
3288
2.6
7
Assault (homicide)
17,096
0.7
13
7367
5.7
5
HIV disease
13,544
0.5
—
a
6879
5.3
6
All other
456,703
18.7
—
29,480
22.9
—
a
Not among top-ranked causes.
Sources:
Data from CDC (2005) and Hoyert et al. (2005).
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