title: Changing to the 2000 standard million: are declining racial/ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities in health real progress or statistical illusion?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study determined the effects of changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million on monitoring socioeconomic and racial/ethnic inequalities in health.
  
  
  METHODS
  Using the 1940, 1970, and 2000 standard million, we calculated and compared age-adjusted rates for selected health outcomes stratified by socioeconomic level.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Changing from the 1940 to the 2000 standard million markedly reduced the age-adjusted relative risks for self-reported fair or poor health status of poor Americans compared with high-income Americans.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Public health researchers and practitioners should give serious consideration to the implications of the change to the 2000 standard million for monitoring social inequalities in health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health and Social Behavior, Harvard School of Public Health, 677 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Krieger
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Williams
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003710:Demography; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009309:National Center for Health Statistics, U.S.; D011157:Population Dynamics; D011203:Poverty; D011640:Public Policy; D012015:Reference Standards; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000208:ethnology