Health Disparity Measures in HD*Calc

The Health Disparities Calculator (HD*Calc) is statistical software designed to generate multiple summary measures to evaluate and monitor health disparities (HD). HD*Calc was created as an extension of SEER*Stat that allows the user to import SEER data and other population based health data to calculate any of eight disparity measurements.

Cross sectional and trend data (e.g., cancer rates, survival, stage at diagnosis) categorized by disparity groups (e.g., area-socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, geographic areas) can be used with HD*Calc to generate four absolute and seven relative summary measures of disparity. The results are displayed as tables and charts, which may be exported for use in other applications.

Source: Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)
Time frame: (as of June, 2010) Latest Release: Version 1.1.0 - January 13, 2010
Available at: http://seer.cancer.gov/hdcalc/

The Health Disparities Calculator (HD*Calc) uses SEER Data or other population based health data (e.g., National Health Interview Survey, California Health Interview Survey, Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, and National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey) to calculate two types of disparity measures:

1. Absolute Disparity, which includes Range Difference (RD), Between Group Variance (BGV), Absolute Concentration Index (ACI), and Slope Index of Inequality (SII)
2. Relative Disparity, which includes Range Ratio (RR), Index of Disparity (IDisp), Mean Log Deviation (MLD), Relative Concentration Index (RCI), Theil Index (T), Kunst Mackenbach Relative Index (KMI) , Relative Index of Inequality (RII).

Associated statistics include: standard errors, confidence intervals, and relative change over time for trends. The output is presented in both tabular and graphic formats; this allows users to specify various conditions and formats. Resulting disparity tables and graphs can be exported from the program. In addition to summary measures, HD*Calc also provides pair wise comparisons that allow the user to explore underlying trends in the data.