ABSTRACT
The US government's Healthy People initiative first listed reducing health disparities as of one its Healthy People 2000 goals. Health disparities are differences in health outcomes by population segments according to demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status (SES), and geographic environment. This definition includes two interrelated components: populations segmentation and health outcomes. The most commonly used population segments are race and ethnicity. The most commonly used SES measures are individual income and educational level. In this chapter, the authors describe and elaborate on these measures in detail and lay out the challenges of linking health disparity population and health indicator measures. Health disparities by gender can be studied or measured from at least four perspectives: demographic, gender inequality in economic status and employment opportunities, access to care, and sexual orientation. The chapter briefly discusses rural–urban disparities and limited English proficiency health disparities; both dimensions share access to care issues.
