On the measurement of inequalities in health

Adam Wagstaff; Pierella Paci; Eddy van Doorslaer

doi:10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U

On the measurement of inequalities in health

Adam Wagstaff^*, Pierella Paci, Eddy van Doorslaer

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

1120 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This paper offers a critical appraisal of the various methods employed to date to measure inequalities in health. It suggests that only two of these-the slope index of inequality and the concentration index-are likely to present an accurate picture of socioeconomic inequalities in health. The paper also presents several empirical examples to illustrate of the dangers of using other measures such as the range, the Lorenz curve and the index of dissimilarity.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	545-557
Number of pages	13
Journal	Social Science and Medicine
Volume	33
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U
Publication status	Published - 1991

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgemenrs-We areg ratefult o the EC for financial support and to Frans Rutten--the project leader-for encouragemenatn d advice. We are also grateful to the Centro Europa Ricerche (CER) in Rome and in particulart o Stefania Gabriele for providing data from CER’s Health Care ConsumDrion Survey, and to Jan van Emmerickfo r help in analising data f&m the Dutch Health Interview Suruev. We are also grateful to Julian Le Grand and Rich&d Wilkinson fo; helpful commentso n an earlier versiono f this paper.

Access to Document

10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U

Cite this

@article{406057c4d0404630aef8e2b0248bbf03,

title = "On the measurement of inequalities in health",

abstract = "This paper offers a critical appraisal of the various methods employed to date to measure inequalities in health. It suggests that only two of these-the slope index of inequality and the concentration index-are likely to present an accurate picture of socioeconomic inequalities in health. The paper also presents several empirical examples to illustrate of the dangers of using other measures such as the range, the Lorenz curve and the index of dissimilarity.",

author = "Adam Wagstaff and Pierella Paci and {van Doorslaer}, Eddy",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgemenrs-We areg ratefult o the EC for financial support and to Frans Rutten--the project leader-for encouragemenatn d advice. We are also grateful to the Centro Europa Ricerche (CER) in Rome and in particulart o Stefania Gabriele for providing data from CER{\textquoteright}s Health Care ConsumDrion Survey, and to Jan van Emmerickfo r help in analising data f&m the Dutch Health Interview Suruev. We are also grateful to Julian Le Grand and Rich&d Wilkinson fo; helpful commentso n an earlier versiono f this paper.",

year = "1991",

doi = "10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U",

language = "English",

volume = "33",

pages = "545--557",

journal = "Social Science and Medicine",

issn = "0277-9536",

publisher = "Elsevier Ltd.",

number = "5",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - On the measurement of inequalities in health

AU - Wagstaff, Adam

AU - Paci, Pierella

AU - van Doorslaer, Eddy

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgemenrs-We areg ratefult o the EC for financial support and to Frans Rutten--the project leader-for encouragemenatn d advice. We are also grateful to the Centro Europa Ricerche (CER) in Rome and in particulart o Stefania Gabriele for providing data from CER’s Health Care ConsumDrion Survey, and to Jan van Emmerickfo r help in analising data f&m the Dutch Health Interview Suruev. We are also grateful to Julian Le Grand and Rich&d Wilkinson fo; helpful commentso n an earlier versiono f this paper.

PY - 1991

Y1 - 1991

N2 - This paper offers a critical appraisal of the various methods employed to date to measure inequalities in health. It suggests that only two of these-the slope index of inequality and the concentration index-are likely to present an accurate picture of socioeconomic inequalities in health. The paper also presents several empirical examples to illustrate of the dangers of using other measures such as the range, the Lorenz curve and the index of dissimilarity.

AB - This paper offers a critical appraisal of the various methods employed to date to measure inequalities in health. It suggests that only two of these-the slope index of inequality and the concentration index-are likely to present an accurate picture of socioeconomic inequalities in health. The paper also presents several empirical examples to illustrate of the dangers of using other measures such as the range, the Lorenz curve and the index of dissimilarity.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0025918749&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U

DO - 10.1016/0277-9536(91)90212-U

M3 - Article

C2 - 1962226

AN - SCOPUS:0025918749

SN - 0277-9536

VL - 33

SP - 545

EP - 557

JO - Social Science and Medicine

JF - Social Science and Medicine

IS - 5

ER -

On the measurement of inequalities in health

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this