Practice of Epidemiology Ten Largest Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities in the United States based on Healthy People 2010 Objectives

A consistent framework has been developed for measuring health disparities and making comparisons across indicators with regard to the public health goals of Healthy People 2010. Disparities are measured as the percent difference from the best group rate, with all indicators being expressed in terms of adverse events. The 10 largest health disparities for each of five US racial and ethnic groups are identified here. There are both similarities and differences in the largest health disparities. New cases of tuberculosis and drug-induced death rates are among the largest health disparities for four of the five racial and ethnic groups. However, drug-induced death is the only indicator among the 10 largest disparities that is shared by both Black and White non-Hispanic populations.