Alaska's 2002 crude mortality rate was 472.2 per 100,000 against Florida's 1,005.7, yet Alaska's age-adjusted rate was 794.1 against Florida's 787.8. What accounts for the reversal?

1. Mortality climbs steeply with age, so a young population posts a low crude rate whatever its real health. 2. Alaska's crude rate of 472.2 is less than half Florida's 1,005.7, a gap far larger than any real difference in risk. 3. Age adjustment takes a weighted average of age-specific rates, removing the effect of differing age structures. 4. Once adjusted, Alaska sits slightly above Florida at 794.1 against 787.8, so Alaska's advantage was an artefact of its younger population. 5. Adjustment changed both figures dramatically, so the first option is false, and it reversed the ranking, so Florida is not at greater risk. 6. Alaska is the younger population, not the older one, which is exactly why its crude rate looked so good. _Source: CDC Principles of Epidemiology in Public Health Practice (3rd ed., US federal, public domain), Lesson 3 "Measures of Risk", section Age-adjusted mortality rates_