| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
| Estimating excess winter mortality in England Wales | | Author(s) | Helen Johnson, Clare Griffiths |
| Journal title | Health Statistics Quarterly, no 20, Winter 2003 |
| Pages | pp 19-24 |
| Keywords | Death rate [statistics] ; Weather conditions ; Winter care ; Longitudinal surveys. |
| Annotation | During the winter months, mortality in England and Wales reaches higher levels than during the summer months. The aim of calculating an excess winter mortality (EWM) figure is to measure the annual increase. For each winter, EWM is calculated in the same way, using an arbitrary defined winter period. Over the last 50 years, in December to March, mortality levels have remained above average, and in May to October mortality has been consistently below average. Although year-on-year variability - which is most pronounced in the winter months - remains, there has been a steady log-linear decline in EWM. In general, the current method used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) of estimating the EWM gives similar results to those of other methods of calculating EWM over the last 50 years. However, due to the year-on-year variability seen in seasonal mortality, mortality can also be above average in the autumn or spring. Where these periods are included in the comparison period for EWM calculations - as with the current ONS method - this has the effect of decreasing the EWM estimate. As well as examining EWM trends in England and Wales, the authors look at cause-specific patterns for deaths over the period 1993-2001. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-031118204 A |
| Classmark | S5: R4: IB: 3J |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|