Race/ethnicity, gender, and monitoring socioeconomic gradients in health: a comparison of area-based socioeconomic measures--the public health disparities geocoding project.
Use of multilevel frameworks and area-based socioeconomic measures (ABSMs) for public health monitoring can potentially overcome the absence of socioeconomic data in most US public health surveillance systems. To assess whether ABSMs can meaningfully be used for diverse race/ethnicity-gender groups, we geocoded and linked public health surveillance data from Massachusetts and Rhode Island to 1990 block group, tract, and zip code ABSMs. Outcomes comprised death, birth, cancer incidence, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted infections, childhood lead poisoning, and nonfatal weapons-related injuries. Among White, Black, and Hispanic women and men, measures of economic deprivation (e.g., percentage below poverty) were most sensitive to expected socioeconomic gradients in health, with the most consistent results and maximal geocoding linkage evident for tract-level analyses.
Krieger
Nancy
N
Department of Society, Human Development, and Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. nkrieger@hsph.harvard.edu
Chen
Jarvis T
JT
Waterman
Pamela D
PD
Rehkopf
David H
DH
Subramanian
S V
SV
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007855:Lead Poisoning / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts / Q000453:epidemiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009026:Mortality; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods*; D040442:Public Health Informatics; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012237:Rhode Island / Q000453:epidemiology; D017678:Sex Distribution; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D017062:Small-Area Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000191:economics / Q000208:ethnology