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Summarizing social disparities in health
Yukiko Asada1, Yoko Yoshida, Alyce M Whipp
1Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. yukiko.asada@dal.ca
The Milbank Quarterly
|March 16, 2013
Summary
This study introduces a new method to analyze and report health disparities across multiple factors like income and race. Results show varying patterns of disparity across states, highlighting the need for nuanced tracking to reduce health inequities.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Health Services Research
- Biostatistics
Background:
- Effective reporting of health disparities is crucial for reduction efforts.
- Challenges exist in simultaneously reporting disparities across multiple attributes (e.g., income, education, sex, race/ethnicity).
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and demonstrate an analytical approach for summarizing social disparities in health.
- To compare the extent and patterns of health disparities across all US states and the District of Columbia.
Main Methods:
- Utilized 2009 American Community Survey data.
- Measured health using functional limitation.
- Calculated overall and attribute-specific disparities (income, education, sex, race/ethnicity) for each state and DC.
- Developed health disparity profiles based on the largest contributing attribute.
Main Results:
- Rankings of overall and attribute-specific disparities showed inconsistency across states.
- Wyoming had the smallest overall disparity; West Virginia had the largest.
- Identified three primary disparity profiles: race/ethnicity-dominant (34 states), mixed race/ethnicity and socioeconomic factors (10 states), and socioeconomic factors-dominant (7 states).
Conclusions:
- The proposed approach provides policy-relevant, comparable, and interpretable health disparity information.
- Publicly available data support the application of this method.
- Encourages systematic tracking of health disparities to meet Healthy People 2020 goals.
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