Table 4.

Age adjusted rates of in-hospital mortality among patients admitted to CCU or ICU versus medical hospital wards by sex: direct adjustment method^a

		Male				Female
		CCU or ICU		Medical ward		CCU or ICU		Medical ward
Age groups	Standard Population	Death rate %	Expected # death	Death rate %	Expected # death	Death rate %	Expected # death	Death rate %	Expected # death
All ages	4859
18–54	1223	0.53	6.5	0.97	11.9	1.10	13.5	2.70	33.0
55–65	1245	1.78	22.2	1.84	22.9	1.72	21.4	1.52	18.9
66–78	1289	2.77	35.7	3.65	47.0	2.95	38.0	3.97	51.2
79 +	1102	5.80	63.9	6.67	73.5	7.08	78.0	12.03	132.6
Total number of deaths expected			128		155		151		236
Crude rates		2.1 %		3.5 %		3.3 %		7.8 %
Age adjusted rates		128/4859 = 2.6 %		155/4859 = 3.2 %		151/4859 = 3.1 %		236/4859 = 4.9 %

Abbreviations: CCU coronary care unit, ICU intensive care unit

^aDirect adjustment method is one that calculates a weighted average of the group’s age-specific mortality rates where the weights represent the age-specific sizes of a standard population