Importance of relative measures in policy on health inequalities

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Abstract
How should we measure health gaps? The measurement issue has been brought into focus by the government's recent status report on delivery of the national health inequalities strategy.3 The report raises, but does not answer, two questions about how to assess progress in reducing health inequalities. Should progress be assessed in terms of: changes in absolute or relative gaps? changes in gaps between a target group and the average or changes in gaps within populations? Below we use simple graphs to explain these distinctions and their importance for health policy. View larger version: In this window In a new window Fig 1 Health gaps in mortality from cancer between the most deprived fifth of districts and the national average. Baseline rates are taken from Department of Health data with rounding to facilitate clarity