Figure 3.

Deaths from pyogenic liver abscess in Taiwan, showing a steady decrease from 1996 to 2004. Mortality rate is expressed as the number of deaths reported from pyogenic liver abscess cases per year. A) The linear decrease of the primary mortality data (raw mortality) with the year can be described with this formula: mortality (×1/100) = −0.314 × year + 639.58 (r = 0.910, p<0.001). B) The linear decrease of the standardized mortality data (the mortality normalized according to the age distribution of the population) with the year can be described with this formula: mortality (×1/100) = −0.383 × year +776.59 (r = 0.944, p<0.001). r, Pearson correlation coefficient. p<0.05 is considered statistically significant.