Comparing the health status of populations with different age distributions.

The American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) population is considerably younger than the U.S. All Races population. This needs to be taken into account when comparing the health status of Indians since most health conditions prevail at different rates for different age groups. This article discusses various ways of compensating for age differences between populations. These include the use of age-adjusted rates, excess deaths, and age-specific rates.