Stratification for confounding--part 2: direct and indirect standardization.
Standardization is a method used to compare observed and expected rates of a given disease/outcome by removing the influence of factors that may confound the comparison. There are two major standardization methods: one is used when the 'standard' is the structure of a population (direct method) and the other when the 'standard' is a set of specific event rates (indirect method). The direct standardization is commonly used for large populations while the indirect one is applied to populations of relatively small dimensions.
Tripepi
Giovanni
G
CNR-IBIM, Clinical Epidemiology and Physiopathology of Renal Diseases and Hypertension of Reggio Calabria, Reggio Calabria, Italy. gtripepi@ibim.cnr.it
Jager
Kitty J
KJ
Dekker
Friedo W
FW
Zoccali
Carmine
C
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000453:epidemiology; D015986:Confounding Factors, Epidemiologic; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012015:Reference Standards