Analyzing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mortality Data Using Weekly Exceedance in Mortality Count and Weekly Change in Mortality Indicator: A Time Series Study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Cause-specific mortality (CSM) count prediction plays a vital role in the context of public health policy. In this study, we introduce a new analytical approach, which is divided into three phases to answer specific questions regarding CSM due to 14 specific causes by computing different simple, compound, and conditional probabilities.

METHODS

A multivariate time series forecasting model was developed using the CDC weekly mortality count data. A binary data matrix was constructed for 14 causes of death (COD) as a function of weeks by combining the observed and forecasted mortalities. We introduced two new concepts: Weekly Exceedance in Mortality Count () and Weekly Change in Mortality Indicator (), which were instrumental in computing various probabilities relating to all the CODs. To test the null hypothesis of no association between the COD and a chi-square test of independence was conducted whereas Cramer's V statistic was used to check the strength of the association. Wilcoxon rank sum test, and correlation indices were used to validate the method.

RESULTS

The results of chi-square test of independence indicated that there was no statistically significant association between COD and ( = 0.79). Furthermore, the effect size of this association between COD and was very small (Cramer's V = 0.055). The results of Wilcoxon rank sum test indicated that there was no statistically significant difference between the observed and forecasted counts ( = 0.11) confirming the consistency of our analytical method. Probabilities associated with were also computed as an illustration of the analytical method.

CONCLUSION

Utilizing this analytical approach, researchers and policymakers can compute the probabilities of any number of desired events related to different COD which can be helpful for public health interventions, resource allocation, informed decision-making and risk assessment, by controlling the underlying attributes responsible for the probabilities to surge and plummet.