How do I compare maps of heart disease and stroke for a racial or ethnic group?
Follow the instructions in the answer to the question: “How do I view two maps at a time?” Then select heart disease and stroke for a racial or ethnic group. Looking at the maps side by side, you can compare disease rates for the same location (county, state, or region) and learn whether that location has generally high, medium, or low rates for two different diseases. Remember that the rate maps for two different diseases are not directly comparable, since quintile assignment is based on the distributions of county rates for each disease. A high rate for heart disease and a high rate for stroke mean only that the county falls at the high end of rates for each disease compared with other counties. It does not mean that the county suffers similar numbers of deaths for both diseases because there are many more deaths from heart disease than stroke. For the same reason, a low rate for heart disease and a high rate for stroke for a county does not indicate that more people die of stroke th
