title: [Assessment of applicability of standardized rates for health state comparison among areas: 2008 Community Health Survey].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study shows the issues that should be considered when applying standardized rates using Community Health Survey(CHS) data.
  
  
  METHODS
  We analyzed 2008 CHS data. In order to obtain the reliability of standardized rates, we calculated z-score and rank correlation coefficients between direct standardized rate and indirect standardized rate for 31 major indices. Especially, we assessed the change of correlations according to population composition (age and sex), and characteristics of the index. We used Mantel-Haenszel chi-square to quantify the difference of population composition.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Among 31 major indices, 29 indices' z-score and rank correlation coefficients were over 0.9. However, regions with larger differences in population composition showed lower reliability. Low reliability was also observed for the indices specific to subgroups with small denominator such as 'permanent lesion from stroke', and the index with large regional variations in age-related differences such as 'obtaining health examinations'.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Standardized rates may have low reliability, if comparison is made between areas with extremely large differences in population composition, or for indicies with large regional variations in age-related differences. Therefore, the special features of standardized rates should be considered when health state are compared among areas.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Seoul National University, Korea.
authors.forename: Geun-Yong
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Do-Sang
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Eun-Ja
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Ji-Sun
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Jung
authors.forename: Ki-Won
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: Yun-A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Ho
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Sung-Il
authors.initials: SI
authors.lastname: Cho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D056910:Republic of Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D055815:Young Adult