Health Disparities Calculator: A Methodologically Rigorous Tool for Analyzing Inequalities in Population Health

摘要

Historically, researchers and policy planners have selected a single indicator to measure trends in social inequalities. A more rigorous approach is to review the literature and data, select appropriate inequality measures to address the research question, compute results from various indices, and graphically compare resulting trends. The Health Disparities Calculator (HD*Calc, version 1.2.4; National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD) computes results from different indices and graphically displays them, making an arduous task easier, more transparent, and more accessible. Health disparities are complex social phenomena. Economists and other social scientists have developed many indices to measure trends in inequality. As noted by Sen and Foster, “If a concept has some basic ambiguity, then a precise representation of that ambiguous concept must preserve that ambiguity . . . for descriptive accuracy in inequality measurement. . . .” 1 (p121) No single measure exists that reflects the complexities of inequality. Instead, there is a range of measures for different aspects of the concept. World Bank Chief Economist Martin Ravaillion noted, “There is no economic theory that tells us that inequality is relative, not absolute. Rather, they are two different concepts.” 2 (p27) HD*Calc facilitates the exploration of a variety of disparity indices.