Measurement of Health Disparities, Health Inequities, and Social Determinants of Health to Support the Advancement of Health Equity

Abstract

Reduction of health disparities and advancement of health equity in the United States require high-quality data indicative of where the nation stands vis-à-vis health equity, as well as proper analytic tools to facilitate accurate interpretation of these data. This article opens with an overview of health equity and social determinants of health. It then proposes a set of recommended practices in measurement of health disparities, health inequities, and social determinants of health at the national level to support the advancement of health equity, highlighting that (1) differences in health and its determinants that are associated with social position are important to assess; (2) social and structural determinants of health should be assessed and multiple levels of measurement should be considered; (3) the rationale for methodological choices made and measures chosen should be made explicit; (4) groups to be compared should be simultaneously classified by multiple social statuses; and (5) stakeholders and their communication needs can often be considered in the selection of analytic methods. Although much is understood about the role of social determinants of health in shaping the health of populations, researchers should continue to advance understanding of the pathways through which they operate on particular health outcomes. There is still much to learn and implement about how to measure health disparities, health inequities, and social determinants of health at the national level, and the challenges of health equity persist. We anticipate that the present discussion will contribute to the laying of a foundation for standard practice in the monitoring of national progress toward achievement of health equity.

Review: Environmental influences on alcohol use: Informing research on the joint effects of genes and the environment in diverse U.S. populations

“…Even more striking was the absence of higher order societal variables, for both social control and trigger mechanisms. This runs contrary to historic understandings that structural influences and differential exposures to risks and access to resources are related to the health differences experienced by racial/ethnic minority groups …”

Medical–Legal Partnerships: How Legal Services can Dramatically Improve Health Outcomes, and the Missed Opportunity to Help Women Seeking Abortions

“…Low-income Americans have higher rates of diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, strokes, and vision problems, than middle-and upper-income individuals. 12 Research has firmly established that social factors, such as education and safe housing, play a critical role in these health disparities. 13 The importance of these social determinants of health has become clearer over the years, as researchers have established that the impacts of childhood poverty become biologically embedded and lead to worse health outcomes in adulthood.…”

Comparative analysis of schoolchildren’s morpho-functional development as the basis for health monitoring (with the main focus on northern and southern Kazakhstan regions)

“…Однако они обеспечивают главным образом решение задач системы здравоохранения и не могут быть использованы в образовании. Большинство зарубежных информационных систем мониторинга направлено на получение статистических данных, прежде всего, социально-экономических показателей развития общества в целом [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Наиболее приемлемой для задач образования сегодня можно считать компьютерную программу 5 [21].…”