What is a “health disparity”?

Social determinants of health in epilepsy

“…There is much debate about which health/health-care inequalities are modifiable through social interventions. Societies make this determination based on scientific knowledge, availability of resources, public acceptance, and ideology [2,34]. It has been noted [35] that measuring disparities in care involves considering environmental, personal, and health system factors.…”

Defining and investigating social disparities in cancer: critical issues

“…Review of the relevant scientific literature and government documents reveals a complex mix of important disagreements, confused terminology, and considerable, if not deliberate, vagueness [10][11][12][13]. Words commonly employed, in reference to cancer and other health outcomes, include: 'health disparities,' 'social disparities in health,' 'health inequalities,' 'social inequalities in health,' 'health inequities,' 'health variations,' and 'health differences.'…”

“…As clarified in the considerable literature generated by and in response to the World Health Organization (WHO) on this issue, the concept of inequity involves notions of fairness and injustice, while difference simply means difference -with no normative judgment [10][11][12][13]. Translated to health [10], 1.…”

“…Instead, virtually uniquely among nations, our official and scientific discourse chiefly uses the phrase 'health disparities,' with an implicit understanding that these disparities are in some way unjust [12]. Most typically, as with the official definitions used at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (see Table 1) [30,31], the term 'health disparities' is used, often euphemistically, as a shorthand for 'racial/ethnic disparities in health,' albeit without ever referring to racism or injustice explicitly.…”

Racial/ethnic and socioeconomic disparities in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing in children

“…Although numerous definitions for ''health disparity'' exist, one succinct definition describes it as an ''inequitable difference between groups in health, healthcare, and developmental outcomes that are potentially systematic and avoidable [8][9][10].'' In the field of pediatrics, racial/ethnic and socioeconomic health disparities have been clearly established for common disease processes such as asthma and obesity, and for problems with access to primary healthcare and dental care, where in general, white children and socioeconomically privileged children experience improved health access and outcomes [11][12][13][14].…”