Using Social Epidemiology to Advance Community Health Equity

The Connecticut Association of Directors of Health (CADH) developed a Health Equity Index that provides data ranking community conditions and health outcomes for every city and town in the state. The Index provides a profile of measures related to housing, education, environmental quality, safety, economic stability, employment, and civic engagement. These indicators are scored and analyzed for statistical significance in association with health outcomes. The data analysis can be used by local public health departments to improve health equity by targeting specific community conditions that impact health. Evaluation findings from pilot testing of the Index in three communities indicated that the Index is a useful tool for communicating connections between the social determinants of health and chronic disease, infectious disease, maternal and child health indicators, age-adjusted mortality, and other health measures. Indicator measures are standardized so that comparisons can be made at varying geographic levels of analysis. Based on participation in this project, 73% of project personnel reported that they could easily describe the concept of social determinants of health to other members of the community, compared to 17% who weren't sure and 9% who disagreed. Fifty-seven percent of project leadership reported the Index was useful in demonstrating the connection between community conditions and health outcomes. Forty-two percent of local public health employees stated that in their opinion their agency had the right amount of focus on health inequities. Additional findings and methods of data display will be shared.