 | The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
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| The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA |
Kathleen M. Turczyn, MPH, Office of Analysis, Epidemiology, and Health Promotion, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC, 3311 Toledo Road, Room 6323, Hyattsville, MD 20782, 301-458-4538, kturczyn@cdc.gov and John Aberle-Grasse, MPH, Global AIDS Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, P.O. Box 30016, Kang'ombe Building, 8W, Lilongwe 3, Malawi.
The second overarching goal of Healthy People 2010 is to eliminate health disparities among U.S. population subgroups. Population subgroups being tracked by Healthy People 2010 include race/ethnicity, gender, income or education level, and others as appropriate. To address the second goal of Healthy People 2010, a method for measuring the status of disparity in population-based objectives has been developed. This paper will present the situations, contexts, and attributes involved in measuring disparity in the context of eliminating health inequities in Healthy People 2010 physical activity and fitness objectives. The characteristics of specific disparity statistics will be identified and their support of the Healthy People initiative evaluated. The presentation will include pair-wise comparisons, used when the progress of a particular subgroup is of interest. A summary statistic will also be discussed, which can be used when disparity between some or all subgroups of a population is being assessed. The summary statistic is useful when comparing disparity within a population for a particular objective over time or between objectives. Progress toward eliminating disparities can be measured separately from progress toward the targets set for the year 2010. Both pair-wise and summary statistics are valuable for measuring disparities for Healthy People 2010 objectives. The implications of the various approaches presented need to be considered when measuring disparities over time, between population groups, and between health objectives.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Healthy People 2000/2010, Physical Activity
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.