Health Event Counts
When communicating with health planning groups or legislators, the total number of health events, or the
Table 1: Number of Deaths for Four Leading Causes by Cause and Sex, New Mexico, 2011
| Underlying Cause of Death | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Circulatory, Heart disease (ICD10: I00-I09, I11, I13, I20-I51) | 1,782 | 1,493 | 3,275 |
| Neoplasm, Malignant (ICD10: C00-C97) | 1,639 | 1,534 | 3,260 |
| Injury, Unintentional injuries (ICD10: V01-X59, Y85-Y86) | 824 | 472 | 1,296 |
| Respiratory, Chronic lower respiratory diseases (ICD10: J40-J47) | 510 | 512 | 1,022 |
Source: New Mexico Death Certificate Database, Office of Vital Records and Health Statistics,
New Mexico Department of Health. Retrieved on December 14, 2012 from New Mexico Department
of Health, Indicator-Based Information System for Public Health website: https://ibis.doh.nm.gov/.
Counts of health events are useful, but have limitations for those who need to compare populations of unequal size, for instance, a subpopulation with an overall state population. Knowing the population sizes can help to interpret counts, but computing a rate will allow direct comparison between populations of unequal size that are otherwise similar (e.g., similar age composition, similar culturally).