The MEDLINE/PubMed health disparities search retrieves citations to journal literature, combining subject terms and title & abstract words. See the details of the search strategy.This page also includes links to Health Disparities & Minority Health Information Resources
Watch the video on How to Save PubMed Searches to learn how to save and maintain your own topic-specific PubMed searches.
Search Health Disparities, Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. Examples of search results: Health Disparities and Adolescent Health, Health Disparities in HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB, Health Disparities and Strategies Reports. More resources on the CDC Library Health Equity Research Guide.
Some of the MeSH terms below are recently added. The MeSH page for the term will explain how the concept was previously indexed, and if there is no information, use the broader term along with keyword. New MeSH terms are not usually retroactively applied to terms previously indexed to a different MeSH.
For updates, check What's New in MeSH
Healthcare Disparities are "Differences in access to or availability of medical facilities and services." Year introduced 2008. The broader term is Delivery of Health Care.
Health Status Disparities are "Variation in rates of disease occurrence and disabilities between population groups defined by various factors including socioeconomic characteristics (see SOCIOECONOMIC DISPARITIES IN HEALTH), age, ethnicity, economic resources, or gender and populations identified geographically or similar measures. Year introduced: 2008
Socioeconomic Disparities in Health are " Differences in health based on socioeconomic status. Socioeconomic-based health disparities often begins early in life due to various SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS, e.g. social, economic and educational statuses that limit potential or realized access to resources for maintaining health. Year introduced: 2023
Health Inequities are "Differences in health status or in the distribution of health resources between different population groups, arising from the social conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age." Year introduced: 2022
Minority Health is "the concept covering the physical and mental conditions of members of minority groups."Year introduced: 2008
Intersectional Framework is " the Interconnections of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage." Year introduced: 2022. Intersectionality is an entry term.
Health Services Accessibility is "The degree to which individuals are inhibited or facilitated in their ability to gain entry to and to receive care and services from the health care system. Factors influencing this ability include geographic, architectural, transportational, and financial considerations, among others." Year introduced: 1978
“Health Disparity, Minority and Vulnerable Populations are "Groups of persons whose special characteristics make them a minority, vulnerable, and frequently subjected to conditions with limited levels of access to health care and other opportunities." Year introduced: 2023. (Most of the 2021 “Ethnic Groups” MeSH tree terms were moved here.)
Racial Groups are "Groups of individuals with similar physical appearances often reinforced by cultural, social and/or linguistic similarities. Year introduced: 2022(1968) (this means the concept has been indexed since 1968 but under different MeSH). The broader term is Population Groups, US
Social Determinants of Health is "The circumstances in which people are born, grow up, live, work, and age, as well as the systems put in place to deal with illness. These circumstances are in turn shaped by a wider set of forces: economics, social policies, and politics (http://www.cdc.gov/socialdeterminants/)." Year introduced: 2014
As a part of ongoing research and study, MeSH added new descriptors and updated concepts as they relate to Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) in 2023. Example of new headings:
The US Census Bureau's Data for Equity tools and services include:
Demographic Data by key demographic variables such as race, ethnicity, sex, disability, income, and veteran status to help measure equity. Explore demographic data with data tools such as data.census.gov.
Data tools help the public and policymakers understand the issues surrounding inequities and enable them to propose effective, data-based solutions.
Public Assistance Program Metrics to show public assistance programs’ progress and outcomes.
Diversity Measurement: several approaches to measure the racial and ethnic diversity of the U.S. population, including the Diversity Index, prevalence rankings, the diffusion score, and a series of prevalence maps.
Browse the Data Equity Library with its online collection of equity-related data visualizations, infographics, photos, audio, video, working papers and more.
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