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Burning Man death rates – A short lesson in statistics

179 points · 243 comments · viraj_shah

  1. zeroonetwothree · · focus · HN ↗
    The biggest factor is selection bias. If you are in the hospital with some terrible medical condition you aren’t going to Burning Man.

    It would be interesting to look at cause of death at Burning Man, I would expect it to differ significantly from the population overall (even accounting for age).

    1. swerner · · focus · HN ↗
      Given that firearms are prohibited and motor vehicle traffic is limited to 5mph, that alone would take out two unnatural causes of death. Also, drowning is a lot less likely to occur in the desert.
      1. [deleted] · · focus · HN ↗

        [deleted]

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