In: Statistics and Probability
Epidemiology question: In population A there are 240 persons reporting flu when surveyed on March 1st, while in population B there are 76 persons saying they have the flu when surveyed on March 1st. The populations are the same size. A study measured the cumulative incidence in each population over the 6 month long flu season. Given that the average age in population A was very different from that of population B, what would an epidemiologist generally do to these measures before reporting them?
It is quite natural that any disease will have its grip on persons depending on age, sex and various other socio-economic-health conditions. If any two populations are compared, they both must be equivalent in terms of socio-economic-health conditions. Otherwise the results may not be reliable at all.
In this case, had the average age been the same along with all the other factors, then it would have been easier for the epidemiologists to conclude that the percentage of persons with the flu in population A is higher than that in population B. But given the average age is very much different in the two populations, it is very difficult for the epidemiologist to conclude anything from the data. The foremost purpose of the epidemiologist should be to standardise the two populations at a given base population and then carry out his experiment.
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