Reply #13: You are correct, sir [View All]

[Liberal Classic]

The document from the CDC itself states that these are absolute numbers, and not proportional to the population.

The actual CDC report in PDF format:

ftp://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Publications/mmwr/wk/mm4621.pdf


The findings in this report are subject to at least two limitations. First, because death-certificate data were not available, the two sources used for case finding in 1995 1996 probably underestimated the number of DBRFs and may represent only 74% of actual cases ( 1,2 ). Second, to definitively determine whether certain breeds are disproportionately represented, breed-specific fatality rates should be calculated. The numerator for such rates requires complete ascertainment of deaths and an accurate determination of the breed involved, and the denominator requires reliable breed-specific population data (i.e., number of deaths involving a given breed divided by number of dogs of that breed). However, such denominator data are not available, and official registration or licensing data cannot be used because owners of certain breeds may be less likely than those owning other breeds to register or license their animals ( 3 ).