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Table 3 List of indicators by topic

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) [23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30, 33,34,35,36, 38, 41,42,43]
Health-adjusted life expectancy [33, 34]
Inequality in life expectancy, slope index of inequality (SII) for male and female life expectancy [35, 39]
Healthy life years (total, by sex, region and/or socioeconomic status) [25, 26, 36, 37, 39, 43]
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) [24,25,26,27,28,29,30, 33, 34, 36, 38, 40,41,42]
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) [22, 24, 25, 27, 29,30,31,32,33, 36, 38, 42, 43]
Body mass index [24]
Mortality rate All-cause mortality (total, by sex, age, or region) [25, 27, 29, 34, 37, 38, 41,42,43]
Death rates by cause of death [26, 29, 40, 42]
% 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) [23,24,25, 27, 29, 31,32,33,34, 38, 42]
Tobacco and alcohol consumption [43]
Pregnant women smoking [24]
Self-perceived health Self-perceived health (total, by age and/or sex) [23,24,25,26, 31, 32, 34, 37, 38, 42, 43]
Total health gain as assessed by patients for elective procedures: physical health related procedures/psychological therapies [36]
Unemployment Unemployment (total, by duration/long-term) [24, 25, 27, 28, 30, 38, 42]
Employment of people with long-term conditions/mental illness/disabilities [36, 41]
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) [24, 37, 43]
Mental disorders or illness (ICD9MC: 290–319 / including addictions) [39, 41]
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) [33, 34]
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) [27, 34, 36, 37, 43]
Arterial hypertension [32, 38, 41]
Blood pressure [24, 29]
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 [33, 34, 39]
Disposable family income/family SES [39, 42]
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 [25, 28, 39]
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) [25, 30, 32,33,34, 41]
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) [24, 31, 34, 38]
Sedentarism/insufficient physical activity [29, 32, 42]
% 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) [27, 36, 37]
Cancer incidence (total, by age) [25, 34, 37]
Lung cancer incidence or mortality [33, 34, 43]
Survival rates cancer (1–5 years from all cancers/diagnosed at stages 1 and 2) [24, 36]
Colorectal cancer screening, past 5 years (aged 50–74) [34]
HIV HIV incidence / prevalence (total, by sex, age) [24, 27, 29, 30, 34, 40, 41]
AIDS-related mortality rate [29, 40]
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) [24, 25, 31, 34, 37]
Self-reported chronic morbidity or limitations in daily activities [24, 26]
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) [29, 30, 33, 34, 40, 42, 43]
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) [24, 33, 34, 38]
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 [27, 29, 34, 37, 38, 42]
Preterm delivery [29, 38]
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 [24, 27, 43]
Neonatal mortality rate [29, 30, 36]
Under-5 mortality rate [29, 30]
Stillbirth mortality [29, 36]
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) [31, 32, 34]
Care utilisation (including GP) [24, 26]
Experience of GP services/Out of Hours service [36]
% without a GP [39]
Suicide/self-harm Suicide mortality [25, 29, 33, 34, 38]
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 [24, 27, 30]
Health facilities [40]
% areas understaffed in health & education [39]
Physicians employed (total or rate, by region) [24, 27, 38, 40]
Specialist surgical workforce (per 100,000 population) [30]
Nurses employed including/excluding midwives (total and rate) [24, 27, 40]
Alcohol consumption Alcohol consumption (total, by sex) [24, 31, 38]
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) [29, 30]
Healthy life years lost by traffic accidents and falls [38]
Road injuries and deaths (register-based and self-reported) [23, 24, 27]
Food consumption (vegetables, fruit, salt) Fruit/vegetable consumption (total, by times a day, by age) [24, 34, 38]
Salt intake [29, 32]
Low access to healthy food [39]
Primary studies/ illiteracy Population by education (including early school leavers) [24, 28, 39, 42]
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 [35, 39]
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) [36, 38]
COPD and associated diseases (ICD9MC: 490-496) [24, 41]
Bronchitis and acute bronchiolitis including emphysema (ICD9MC: 466) [32, 41]
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 [26, 32, 34]
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)] [36, 38]
Dental pain or discomfort, past month (aged 18+) [34]
Inability to chew [33, 34]
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 [28, 39]
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) [24, 30, 34]
Excess under 75 mortality rates in adults with common mental illness [36]
Perceived mental health (fair or poor) [33, 34]
Pregnancy care/ breastfeeding Breastfeeding (total, having ever breastfed, initiation, exclusive, by age) [24, 32, 34]
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) [41, 43]
Number of surgical procedures including PTCA, hip, cataract (per 100,000 population) [24, 30]
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International Journal for Equity in Health

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