Healthy People Programs

ObjectivesThis report discusses six issues that affect the measurement of disparities in health between groups in a population: Selecting a reference point from which to measure disparityMeasuring disparity in absolute or in relative termsMeasuring in terms of favorable or adverse eventsMeasuring in pair-wise or in summary fashionChoosing whether to weight groups according to group sizeDeciding whether to consider any inherent ordering of the groups. These issues represent choices that are made when disparities are measured.MethodsExamples are used to highlight how these choices affect specific measures of disparity.ResultsThese choices can affect the size and direction of disparities measured at a point in time and conclusions about the size and direction of changes in disparity over time. Eleven guidelines for measuring disparities are presented.ConclusionsChoices concerning the measurement of disparity should be made deliberately, recognizing that each choice will affect the results. When results are presented, the choices on which the measurements are based should be described clearly and justified appropriately.