Glossary

• age-adjustment see age-standardisation
• age-specific death rate the number of deaths of persons of a specific age-group in one year per 1,000 persons of the same age-group
• age-specific fertility rate the number of live births to women in a specified age-group in one year per 1,000 women in the same age-group
• age-standardisation a procedure for adjusting rates (such as death rates) to minimise the effects of differences in age composition and facilitate valid comparison of rates for populations with different age compositions. See direct standardisation and indirect standardisation
• body mass index (BMI) a measure calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in metres squared, and which categorises a person as ranging from underweight to obese: underweight (BMI: <18.5); normal (BMI: 18.5–24.9); overweight (BMI: 25.0–29.9); obese (BMI: 30.0+)
• crude rate the number of new cases (crude incidence rate) or deaths (crude death rate) due to a disease over the total population that could be affected, without considering age or other factors
• direct standardisation the procedure for adjusting rates in which the specific rates for a study population are averaged using as weights the distribution of a standard population
• excess deaths the difference between the actual number of deaths occurring and the number expected from rates for the comparable population (the population used for comparison is most often the total Australian population or the total for the specific jurisdictions being considered)
• expectation of life predicted number of years of life remaining to a person if the present pattern of mortality does not change. It is a statistical abstraction based on current age-specific death rates
• fertility rate see age-specific fertility rate and total fertility rate
• hospitalisation an episode of admitted patient care, which can be either a patient’s total stay in hospital, or part of a patient’s stay in hospital that results in a change to the type of care. Hospital separations are more commonly known as ‘admissions’, but can also be referred to as ‘hospitalisations’
• incidence the number of instances of illness commencing, or of persons falling ill, during a given period in a specified population (see incidence rate)
• incidence rate the number of instances of illness commencing, or of persons falling ill, during a given period in a specified population divided by the population at risk
• Indigenous Australians term used to refer collectively to the two Indigenous sub-populations within Australia – Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders
• indirect standardisation the procedure for adjusting rates in which the specific rates in a standard population are averaged using as weights the distribution of the study population
• infant mortality rate (IMR) number of infant deaths per 1,000 live births
• International Classification of Disease (ICD) World Health Organization’s internationally accepted classification of death and disease
• life expectancy see expectation of life
• maternal mortality ratio number of maternal deaths divided by the number of confinements (in 100,000s)
• median age at death the age above and below which 50% of deaths occurred
• morbidity state of being diseased or otherwise unwell
• mortality death
• non-Indigenous Australians a person who is not Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander; also referred to as ‘other Australians‘
• prevalence the number of instances of a given disease or other condition in a given population at a designated time
• risk factor an attribute or exposure that is associated with an increased probability of a specified outcome, such as the occurrence of a disease. Not necessarily a causal factor
• standardisation the process by which adjustments are made to take account of differences in the age structures of populations
• standardised mortality ratio (SMR) the ratio of the observed number of deaths in a study population to the number expected if the study population had the same age-specific rates as a standard population. (The SMR is expressed sometimes as the ratio multiplied by 100.); see age-standardisation and indirect standardisation
• standardised rate the number of new cases (standardised incidence rate) or deaths (standardised death rate) due to a disease for a particular population after adjustment has been made for differences in the age structures of this population and a reference population; see standardisation
• total fertility rate the number of live births a woman would have if, throughout her reproductive years, she had children at the rates prevailing in the reference calendar year. It is the sum of the age-specific fertility rates for that calendar year

Glossary references

Concise medical dictionary (1980) Oxford University Press, Oxford
Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary (1985) 26th edition, WB Saunders, Philadelphia
Last, J.M. (ed.) (2000) A dictionary of epidemiology. 4th edition. Oxford University Press, New York

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