scholarly journals Tracking Pandemic Severity Using Data on the Age Structure of Mortality: Lessons From the 1918 Influenza Pandemic in Michigan

2021 ◽  
Vol 111 (S2) ◽  
pp. S149-S155
Author(s):  
Siddharth Chandra ◽  
Julia Christensen

Objectives. To test whether distortions in the age structure of mortality during the 1918 influenza pandemic in Michigan tracked the severity of the pandemic. Methods. We calculated monthly excess deaths during the period of 1918 to 1920 by using monthly data on all-cause deaths for the period of 1912 to 1920 in Michigan. Next, we measured distortions in the age distribution of deaths by using the Kuiper goodness-of-fit test statistic comparing the monthly distribution of deaths by age in 1918 to 1920 with the baseline distribution for the corresponding month for 1912 to 1917. Results. Monthly distortions in the age distribution of deaths were correlated with excess deaths for the period of 1918 to 1920 in Michigan (r = 0.83; P < .001). Conclusions. Distortions in the age distribution of deaths tracked variations in the severity of the 1918 influenza pandemic. Public Health Implications. It may be possible to track the severity of pandemic activity with age-at-death data by identifying distortions in the age distribution of deaths. Public health authorities should explore the application of this approach to tracking the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of complete data coverage or accurate cause-of-death data.

Vaccine ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. B42-B48 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neslihan Saglanmak ◽  
Viggo Andreasen ◽  
Lone Simonsen ◽  
Kåre Mølbak ◽  
Mark A. Miller ◽  
...  

2022 ◽  
Vol 112 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-168
Author(s):  
Siddharth Chandra ◽  
Madhur Chandra

Objectives. To test whether distortions in the age distribution of deaths can track pandemic activity. Methods. We compared weekly distributions of all-cause deaths by age during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States from March to December 2020 with corresponding prepandemic weekly baseline distributions derived from data for 2015 to 2019. We measured distortions via Kolmogorov–Smirnov (K-S) and χ2 goodness-of-fit statistics as well as deaths among individuals aged 65 years or older as a percentage of total deaths (PERC65+). We computed bivariate correlations between these measures and the number of recorded COVID-19 deaths for the corresponding weeks. Results. Elevated COVID-19-associated fatalities were accompanied by greater distortions in the age structure of mortality. Distortions in the age distribution of weekly US COVID-19 deaths in 2020 relative to earlier years were highly correlated with COVID fatalities (K-S: r = 0.71, P < .001; χ2: r = 0.90, P < .001; PERC65+: r = 0.85, P < .001). Conclusions. A population-representative sample of age-at-death data can serve as a useful means of pandemic activity surveillance when precise cause-of-death data are incomplete, inaccurate, or unavailable, as is often the case in low-resource environments. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(1):165–168. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306567 )


Author(s):  
Lingtao Kong

The exponential distribution has been widely used in engineering, social and biological sciences. In this paper, we propose a new goodness-of-fit test for fuzzy exponentiality using α-pessimistic value. The test statistics is established based on Kullback-Leibler information. By using Monte Carlo method, we obtain the empirical critical points of the test statistic at four different significant levels. To evaluate the performance of the proposed test, we compare it with four commonly used tests through some simulations. Experimental studies show that the proposed test has higher power than other tests in most cases. In particular, for the uniform and linear failure rate alternatives, our method has the best performance. A real data example is investigated to show the application of our test.


2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannelore Liero

A goodness-of-fit test for testing the acceleration function in a nonparametric life time model is proposed. For this aim the limit distribution of an L2-type test statistic is derived. Furthermore, a bootstrap method is considered and the power of the test is studied.


Author(s):  
Naz Saud ◽  
Sohail Chand

A class of goodness of fit tests for Marshal-Olkin Extended Rayleigh distribution with estimated parameters is proposed. The tests are based on the empirical distribution function. For determination of asymptotic percentage points, Kolomogorov-Sminrov, Cramer-von-Mises, Anderson-Darling,Watson, and Liao-Shimokawa test statistic are used. This article uses Monte Carlo simulations to obtain asymptotic percentage points for Marshal-Olkin extended Rayleigh distribution. Moreover, power of the goodness of fit test statistics is investigated for this lifetime model against several alternatives.


Author(s):  
Shafiqur Rahman

Efficient and reliable estimates of the proportions of population at different age levels are essential for making quality budget of any developing or developed nation. These estimates are obtained from the best-fitted age distribution model and can be used to find the number of school age children, number of pensioners etc. Past population census data of GCC countries are analyzed to find the best-fitted age distribution model applying chi-square goodness of fit test and model selection criteria and observed that the age distribution of most of the GCC countries is exponential. A comparative study of the age distributions of six GCC countries with some developed countries is also provided.


Author(s):  
Khaoula Aidi ◽  
Nadeem Shafique Butt ◽  
Mir Masoom Ali ◽  
Mohamed Ibrahim ◽  
Haitham M. Yousof ◽  
...  

A new modified version of the Bagdonavičius-Nikulin goodness-of-fit test statistic is presented for validity for the right censor case under the double Burr type X distribution. The maximum likelihood estimation method in censored data case is used and applied. Simulations via the algorithm of Barzilai-Borwein is performed for assessing the right censored estimation method. Another simulation study is presented for testing the null hypothesis under the modified version of the Bagdonavičius and Nikulin goodness-of-fit statistical test. Four right censored data sets are analyzed under the new modified test statistic for checking the distributional validation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (2) ◽  
pp. 350-356
Author(s):  
Julien Die Loucou ◽  
Pierre-Benoit Pagès ◽  
Pierre-Emmanuel Falcoz ◽  
Pascal-Alexandre Thomas ◽  
Caroline Rivera ◽  
...  

Abstract OBJECTIVES The performance of prediction models tends to deteriorate over time. The purpose of this study was to update the Thoracoscore risk prediction model with recent data from the Epithor nationwide thoracic surgery database. METHODS From January 2016 to December 2017, a total of 56 279 patients were operated on for mediastinal, pleural, chest wall or lung disease. We used 3 recommended methods to update the Thoracoscore prediction model and then proceeded to develop a new risk model. Thirty-day hospital mortality included patients who died within the first 30 days of the operation and those who died later during the same hospital stay. RESULTS We compared the baseline patient characteristics in the original data used to develop the Thoracoscore prediction model and the validation data. The age distribution was different, with specifically more patients older than 65 years in the validation group. Video-assisted thoracoscopy accounted for 47% of surgeries in the validation group compared but only 18% in the original data. The calibration curve used to update the Thoracoscore confirmed the overfitting of the 3 methods. The Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test was significant for the 3 updated models. Some coefficients were overfitted (American Society of Anesthesiologists score, performance status and procedure class) in the validation data. The new risk model has a correct calibration as indicated by the Hosmer–Lemeshow goodness-of-fit test, which was non-significant. The C-index was strong for the new risk model (0.84), confirming the ability of the new risk model to differentiate patients with and without the outcome. Internal validation shows no overfitting for the new model CONCLUSIONS The new Thoracoscore risk model has improved performance and good calibration, making it appropriate for use in current clinical practice.


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