HK Calculation of Death Rate Consistent with WHO Practice: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, April 26, 2003

HK Calculation of Death Rate Consistent with WHO Practice: Official

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Hong Kong's current calculation of the death rate of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) patients was consistent with the way the case fatality rate was compiled by the World Health Organization (WHO), a spokesman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau said Saturday.

The case fatality rate refers to the number of deaths per 100 cases. Under this method, the death rate in Hong Kong as at Friday was 7.6 percent, with 115 deaths out a total of 1,510 patients, he said.

He noted that there had been remarks on the calculation of the mortality rate, case fatality rate and the outcome rate for SARS.

He explained that the mortality rate normally referred to the number of deaths per 100,000 population. The outcome rate is the ratio between the number of discharges and deaths.

"The use of an outcome rate is only meaningful when an epidemic is over and the outcomes of all patients have been ascertained or there is an agreed cut off period or benchmark," he said.

Meanwhile, "we are using the case fatality rate because it is the most sensible and consistent method, and concurs with the system adopted by WHO," the spokesman added.

"Consistency is important for effective communication and information exchange with WHO and the international scientific community, and for the calculation of global statistics," he said.

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