許多國際知名媒體都有專題報導不同國家2019冠病毒疾病死亡率差異,台灣許多新聞媒體也有翻譯部分內容。本文目的是要說明「死亡率」(mortality)這個名詞,在不同疾病專業與情境所使用的單位,分子分母定義與觀察時間不相同, 所以要進行比較前,一定要考量可比性(comparability)問題。本文包括五部分:首先介紹各國政府公告死亡率的分子分母,接著說明不同專業使用死亡率的分母差異,第三釐清率比例比與風險的概念與操作差異,第四解釋2019冠病毒致死率分子分母變動問題,第五考量不同嚴重度組成造成可比性問題,最後結論。

Many well-known international media have special reports on the differences in the death rate of the COVID-19 in different countries, and many news media in Taiwan also have translated some content. The purpose of this article is to explain the term ``mortality''. In the units used in different professions and situations, the definition of the numerator and the denominator is different from the observation time. Therefore, before comparing, we must consider the issue of comparability. This article includes five parts: first introduce the numerator and denominator of the death rate announced by the governments of various countries, then explain the difference in the denominator of the death rate used by different professions, the third clarify the concept and operational differences of the rate ratio and risk, and the fourth explain the numerator of the death rate of COVID-19 denominator change problem. The fifth consideration is the comparability problem caused by the composition of different severity, and the final conclusion.

COVID-19, mortality