Consider the following heart disease mortality data from twohypothetical countries, including a low-income and high-incomecountry.
| Age Group (years | % of population in age group | Death rate from heart disease |
| Hypothetical Low-Income | | |
| 0-20 | 30% | 2/100,000 person- years |
| 21-50 | 40% | 20/100,000 person- years |
| 51-85 | 30% | 40/100,000 person- years |
| Hypothetical high- income | | |
| 0-20 | 20% | 2/100,000 person- years |
| 21-50 | 30% | 20/100,000 person -years |
| 51-85 | 50% | 40/100,000 person- years |
| | |
A. Use these data to calculate the overall crude death ratesfrom heart disease in the hypothetical high and low incomecountries.
B. Based on these data, do you think that it is better tocompare the heart disease death rates in the two countries usingthe overall crude rate or the age-standardized rate for eachcountry? Briefly justify your answer.
