Monitoring Socioeconomic Disparities in Death: Comparing Individual-Level Education and Area-Based Socioeconomic Measures

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Abstract
We compared all-cause mortality rates stratified by individual-level education and by census tract area–based socioeconomic measures for Massachusetts (1999–2001). Among persons aged 25 and older, the age-adjusted relative index of inequality was slightly higher for the census tract than for the individual education measures (1.5 vs 1.2, respectively). Only the census tract socioeconomic measures could provide a relative index of inequality (2–3) for deaths before age 25 or detect expected socioeconomic disparities for deaths among persons 65 and older (relative index of inequality= approximately 1.2 vs 0.8 for census tract measures and individual education, respectively).