From: Measuring health inequalities: a systematic review of widely used indicators and topics
Topics | Indicators | Reference |
---|---|---|
Life expectancy | Life expectancy at birth or at certain age (total, by sex, educational level and/or socioeconomic status) | |
Health-adjusted life expectancy | ||
Inequality in life expectancy, slope index of inequality (SII) for male and female life expectancy | ||
Healthy life years (total, by sex, region and/or socioeconomic status) | ||
Slope index of inequality for male and female disability-free life expectancy | [35] | |
Infant mortality | Infant mortality (total, by sex, by socioeconomic status, deprivation or disposable family income) | |
Infant mortality of newborns weighting at least 500 g | [34] | |
Inequality in infant mortality | [39] | |
Highest and lowest infant mortality rates per 1000 live births and measures of inequality between EU Member States, 2000–2010 | [25] | |
Obesity and overweight (BMI) | Obesity and/or overweight (total, by sex, age, or educational level) | |
Body mass index | [24] | |
Mortality rate | All-cause mortality (total, by sex, age, or region) | |
Death rates by cause of death | ||
% completeness of death registration with cause-of-death information | [30] | |
Regular smokers /tobacco consumption | Smoking/tobacco consumption (total, by frequency of consumption, age, sex, employment and occupational status and/or by difficulties experienced in paying bills) | |
Tobacco and alcohol consumption | [43] | |
Pregnant women smoking | [24] | |
Self-perceived health | Self-perceived health (total, by age and/or sex) | |
Total health gain as assessed by patients for elective procedures: physical health related procedures/psychological therapies | [36] | |
Unemployment | Unemployment (total, by duration/long-term) | |
Employment of people with long-term conditions/mental illness/disabilities | ||
Eligibility for employment insurance (aged 15–69) | [34] | |
Age dependency ratio (% working-age population) | [30] | |
Population living in jobless households | [39] | |
Employment gap | [39] | |
Mental well-being | Risk of psychological suffering | [42] |
Health-related quality of life for people with mental illness (eventual or recovery) | [36] | |
Psychological well-being or discomfort (by age, by using GHQ-12) | ||
Mental disorders or illness (ICD9MC: 290–319 / including addictions) | ||
Morbidity: neurotic, personality, and other non-psychotic mental disorders (except drugs or alcohol) (ICD9MC: 300–302, 306–319) | [41] | |
Depression (mental health) | [38] | |
Mental illness hospitalisation rate (total, by age) | ||
Coverage of services for severe mental health disorders | [29] | |
Cardiovascular disease/ hypertension | Mortality due to cardiovascular causes, including heart diseases (total, by sex and/or age) | |
Arterial hypertension | ||
Blood pressure | ||
Proportion of stroke patients reporting an improvement in activity | [36] | |
Cardiovascular and heart diseases (including heart attacks, angina pectoris, and heart failure) | [38] | |
First ever hospital admission for heart attack (aged under 75 years) | [37] | |
30-day in-hospital case-fatality AMI and stroke | [24] | |
Socioeconomic status (SES)/ material deprivation | Working poor | |
Disposable family income/family SES | ||
Income tax base | [38] | |
People in households in receipt of means-tested benefits | [35] | |
Slope index of inequality for people in households in receipt of means-tested benefits | [35] | |
% at risk of poverty – with less than 60% of the median income/% at persistent risk of poverty (by intensity of poverty) | [39] | |
% who own a house and car | [39] | |
% areas with > 20% population poor | [39] | |
Age-standardised percentage of people aged 25 and over by severity of material deprivation | [25] | |
SII Income/SII Deprivation (by perceived health)/inequality relative index/Gini coefficient (income distribution)/salary gap/income inequality (S80/S20) within and across local areas | ||
Population below poverty line and income inequality | [24] | |
Diabetes / Insulin resistance | Age-standardised prevalence rate of anti-diabetic drug recipients | [38] |
Diabetes (excluding gestational) (by region, age) | ||
Raised blood glucose/diabetes among adults | [29] | |
Diabetes control | [24] | |
Physical activity | Physical activity, active or moderately active (total or during free time, by sex and/or age) | |
Sedentarism/insufficient physical activity | ||
% children by the number of hours of physical activity during a week | [38] | |
Little social or recreational activity | [39] | |
Cancer | Cancer mortality (total, by sex, age) | |
Cancer incidence (total, by age) | ||
Lung cancer incidence or mortality | ||
Survival rates cancer (1–5 years from all cancers/diagnosed at stages 1 and 2) | ||
Colorectal cancer screening, past 5 years (aged 50–74) | [34] | |
HIV | HIV incidence / prevalence (total, by sex, age) | |
AIDS-related mortality rate | ||
People living with HIV who know their status | [29] | |
Antiretroviral therapy coverage | [29] | |
Prevention of mother-to-child transmission | [29] | |
HIV test results for TB patients (positive results) | [29] | |
Death rate due to TB, HIV, and hepatitis by sex | [23] | |
Long-term limitations/ chronic illnesses | Health-related quality of life for people with long-term conditions | [36] |
Long-term/chronic conditions, limitations, or illness (total, by age, sex) | ||
Self-reported chronic morbidity or limitations in daily activities | ||
Physical and sensory functional limitations | [24] | |
Death rate due to chronic diseases by sex | [23] | |
Tuberculosis | Incidence/prevalence of TB (by country of origin, nationality, age, and sex) | |
Evolution of anti-TB vaccination (BCG) | [40] | |
TB notification rate | [29] | |
Coverage for TB treatment/drug susceptibility testing (for active, latent infection or drug-resistant) | [29] | |
Death rate due to TB, HIV, and hepatitis by sex | [23] | |
Hazardous alcohol consumption | Hazardous alcohol consumption/heavy drinking (total, by age) | |
Alcohol-related deaths (aged 45–74 years) | [37] | |
High-risk alcohol consumption | [32] | |
Harmful use of alcohol, defined according to the national context as alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol | [29] | |
Low birthweight | Low birthweight | |
Preterm delivery | ||
Hospital discharges due to delayed intrauterine growth, foetal malnutrition, shortened pregnancy and low birth weight, caesarean sections, and low birth weight infants (by province) | [41] | |
Small for gestational age | [34] | |
Perinatal, neonatal, and stillbirths/foetal mortality | Perinatal mortality | |
Neonatal mortality rate | ||
Under-5 mortality rate | ||
Stillbirth mortality | ||
Foetal mortality by nationality | [43] | |
Stillbirths, perinatal mortality, and infant mortality | [38] | |
General practitioner (GP) utilisation | Health professionals (including doctor/GP/specialist) consultations (by time period) | |
Care utilisation (including GP) | ||
Experience of GP services/Out of Hours service | [36] | |
% without a GP | [39] | |
Suicide/self-harm | Suicide mortality | |
Suicide and mortality from injury of undetermined intent among people with recent contact from NHS | [36] | |
Suicides and self-injuries | [43] | |
Healthcare resources | Hospital beds | |
Health facilities | [40] | |
% areas understaffed in health & education | [39] | |
Physicians employed (total or rate, by region) | ||
Specialist surgical workforce (per 100,000 population) | [30] | |
Nurses employed including/excluding midwives (total and rate) | ||
Alcohol consumption | Alcohol consumption (total, by sex) | |
Alcohol first hospital admissions (aged under 75 years) | [37] | |
Alcohol risk | [32] | |
Patterns of alcohol consumption | [25] | |
Road traffic accidents (injuries and deaths) | Mortality caused by road traffic injury (per 100,000 people) | |
Healthy life years lost by traffic accidents and falls | [38] | |
Road injuries and deaths (register-based and self-reported) | ||
Food consumption (vegetables, fruit, salt) | Fruit/vegetable consumption (total, by times a day, by age) | |
Salt intake | ||
Low access to healthy food | [39] | |
Primary studies/ illiteracy | Population by education (including early school leavers) | |
Young people who are not in education, employment or training | [35] | |
Days away from study or work | [32] | |
Results in math and literacy or years of education | [39] | |
% illiterate or does not know the language well | [39] | |
Child well-being | Hospital discharges in girls and boys by age | [41] |
Children well-being/achieving a good level of development at age 5 | ||
Early childhood development | [33] | |
Incidence of one of the 17 most common disorders in children, by sex and age | [31] | |
Respiratory disease | Mortality rate from respiratory disease (including COPD, total, by age) | |
COPD and associated diseases (ICD9MC: 490-496) | ||
Bronchitis and acute bronchiolitis including emphysema (ICD9MC: 466) | ||
Care-seeking for symptoms of pneumonia | [29] | |
Work-related health risks | Health-related quality of life for carers | [36] |
Occupational diseases | [43] | |
Work accidents | [39] | |
Health worker density and distribution | [29] | |
Work-related health risks | [24] | |
People killed in accidents at work | [23] | |
Dental care/ oral health | Dental consultations | |
Tooth extractions in secondary care for children under 10 | [36] | |
Dental care (regular brushing of teeth, regular visits to the dentist, proper diet, and the use of protective agents) | [38] | |
Dental disease (caries and periodontal disease)] | ||
Dental pain or discomfort, past month (aged 18+) | [34] | |
Inability to chew | ||
Decay-missing-filled teeth index (aged 6–17) | [34] | |
Policy and legislation | A measure of the effectiveness of post-diagnostic care in sustaining independence and improving quality of life | [36] |
New cases of International Health Regulations (IHR)-notifiable diseases and other notifiable diseases | [29] | |
Total net official development assistance to medical research and basic health sectors prepared | [29] | |
International health regulations capacity and health emergency preparedness | [29] | |
Integrated programmes in settings, including workplace, schools, hospital | [24] | |
Expenditure on public health administrations | [40] | |
Legislation, plans and funds to fight discrimination and structural health inequalities | ||
Prevention of HIV in key populations | [29] | |
Policies and practices on healthy lifestyles including nutrition | [24] | |
Perceived mental health | Psychological distress (total or by place, by age) | |
Excess under 75 mortality rates in adults with common mental illness | [36] | |
Perceived mental health (fair or poor) | ||
Pregnancy care/ breastfeeding | Breastfeeding (total, having ever breastfed, initiation, exclusive, by age) | |
Recommended duration of breastfeeding | [32] | |
Hospital discharge for giving birth (ICD9MC: 650) | [41] | |
% pregnant women receiving prenatal care | [39] | |
Hip fractures and surgical procedures | Proportion of patients with hip fractures recovering to their previous levels of mobility/walking ability at 30 days | [36] |
Fractures including hip, vertebral and forearm fractures (ICD9MC: 800–829) (by province, sex, age) | ||
Number of surgical procedures including PTCA, hip, cataract (per 100,000 population) |