Methodological Issues in Measuring Health Disparities

This report discusses six issues that affect the measurement of disparities in health between groups in a population: (1) selecting a reference point from which to measure disparity; (2) measuring disparity in absolute or in relative terms; (3) measuring in terms of favorable or adverse events; (4) measuring in pair-wise or in summary fashion; (5) choosing whether to weight groups according to group size; and (6) deciding whether to consider any inherent ordering of the groups. This report also presents guidelines for making measurement choices.

Resource Details

• Topics of Practice: Data Collection and Analysis
• Outcomes of Interest: Improve Data Infrastructure
• Level of Evidence: Emerging
• Tools or Materials Included in Resource: No
• Social Determinants of Health: Social and Community Context
• Outside of US: No