Volume 10 — August 01, 2013
SPECIAL TOPIC
Using Empirical Bayes Methods to Rank Counties on Population Health Measures
Figure 1 consists of a map of counties in the continental United States. Counties whose probability of ranking in their assigned national quartile for health outcomes is less than .80 are indicated. Thirty-five percent of counties rank with low certainty in their national quartiles based on the empty models. The counties for which national quartile rank is less certain are concentrated in the Mountain and Central South regions of the United States.
Figure 1. Choropleth map of US county rank certainty in composite health outcomes (empty model).
Figure 2 consists of a map of counties in the continental United States. Counties whose probability of ranking in their assigned national quartile for health outcomes is less than 0.8 are indicated. Twenty-seven percent of counties rank with low certainty in their national quartiles based on the models with demographic covariates. As with Figure 1, the counties for which national quartile rank is less certain are concentrated in the Mountain and Central South regions of the United States.
Figure 2. Choropleth map of US county rank certainty in composite health outcomes (demographic model).
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