Direct standardization is a method of comparing population disease or death experiences, removing the effects of differences in population characteristics. Direct standardization is an important tool used in comparing the health of populations. Additionally, it can be used to monitor the health of the nation as is done with the Healthy People 2010 objectives. This entry uses an example of deaths from heart disease in the state of New York to illustrate the use of direct standardization.

Do men really have more heart disease deaths than women in the state of New York? In this case, two populations are compared, New York men and New York women. The heart disease death rate for New York men is 144.1 per 100,000 in 2000, and for New York ...