Update to Mortality and Survival Page
(June 1, 2013)
The Mortality and Survival page has not been materially updated for some time. For the present, the following information is provided in lieu an update.
1. The pattern whereby researchers commonly refer to survival disparities in titles of articles but in fact analyze relative differences in mortality, and do so without recognizing that relative differences in mortality and relative differences in survival tend to change in opposite directions as mortality/survival rates change generally, is no less widespread today than it was when the Mortality and Survival page was originally created in February 2010. In fact, only rarely will one find an article referencing survival disparities in its title that in fact analyzes survival disparities.
2. As discussed in the third paragraph of Section [1], the Life Tables Illustrations subpage of the Scanlan’s Rule page (SR) provides illustrations of the way relative differences in mortality tend to decrease with age while relative differences in survival tend to increase with age akin to those in Table 1 of the Mortality and Survival page. A similar, and perhaps more succinct, illustration of this pattern may now be found in the Interactions by Age subpage of SR.
3. The Mortality/Survival Illustration subpage of SR uses data on racial disparities in cancer outcomes by stage to illustrate the pattern by which relative differences in mortality and relative differences in survival tend to change in opposite directions as survival/mortality rates increase or decrease.
4. Almost all of the 139 on-line comments collected on the Measuring Health Disparities are generally pertinent to the subject of the Mortality and Survival page, just as are virtually all of the several score other pages and subpages involving measurement issues. But the following comments posted subsequent to the initial creation of the Mortality and Survival page may be a bit more pertinent to the points specifically discussed in the page:
Recognizing contrasting patterns of gender differences in mortality and gender differences in survival. PLoS Medicine Sept, 26, 2012 (responding to Cornell M. Schomaker M, Garone db, et al. Gender differences in survival among adult patients starting antiretroviral therapy in South Africa: A Multicentre cohort study. PLoS Med 9(9): e1001304): doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001304:
http://www.plosmedicine.org/annotation/listThread.action?inReplyTo=54807&root=54807
Understanding contrasting patterns of relative differences in survival and relative differences in mortality. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology. Jan. 12, 2011 (responding to Hockey R, Tooth l, Dobson A. Relative survival: a useful tool to assess generalisability in longitudinal studies of health in older persons. Emerging Themes in Epidemiology 2011, 8,3): http://www.ete-online.com/content/8/1/3/comments
Study of differences in rates of dying above median age at death raises a number of statistical issues – Part I. BMJ Sept. 7, 2011 (responding to Barr HL, Britton J, Smyth AR, Fogarty AW. Association between socioeconomic status, sex, and age at death from cystic fibrosis in England and Wales (1959 to 2008): Cross sectional study. BMJ 2011:343:d4662 doi:10.1136/BMJ.d4662): http://www.BMJ.com/content/343/BMJ.d4662.full/reply#BMJ_el_269661
Study of differences in rates of dying above median age at death raises a number of statistical issues – Part II. BMJ Sept. 7, 2011 (responding to Barr HL, Britton J, Smyth AR, Fogarty AW. Association between socioeconomic status, sex, and age at death from cystic fibrosis in England and Wales (1959 to 2008): Cross sectional study. BMJ 2011:343:d4662 doi:10.1136/BMJ.d4662): http://www.BMJ.com/content/343/BMJ.d4662.full/reply#BMJ_el_269663