abstract: 'In recent work, the concentration index has been widely used as a

  measure of income-related health inequality. The purpose of this note is

  to illustrate two different methods for decomposing the overall health

  concentration index using data collected from a Short Form (SF-36)

  survey of the general Australian population conducted in 1995. For

  simplicity, we focus on the physical functioning scale of the SF-36.

  Firstly we examine decomposition `by component'' by separating the

  concentration index for the physical functioning scale into the ten

  items on which it is based. The results show that the items contribute

  differently to the overall inequality measure, i.e. two of the items

  contributed 13\% and 5\%, respectively, to the overall measure. Second,

  to illustrate the `by subgroup'' method we decompose the concentration

  index by employment status. This involves separating the population into

  two groups: individuals currently in employment; and individuals not

  currently employed. We find that the inequality between these groups is

  about five times greater than the inequality within each group. These

  methods provide insights into the nature of inequality that can be used

  to inform policy design to reduce income related health inequalities.

  Copyright (C) 2002 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.'
affiliation: 'Clarke, PM (Corresponding Author), Univ Oxford, HERC, Inst Hlth Sci,
  Old Rd, Oxford OX3 7LF, England.

  Univ Oxford, HERC, Inst Hlth Sci, Oxford OX3 7LF, England.

  Malmo Univ Hosp, Dept Community Med, Malmo, Sweden.

  Lund Univ, Ctr Hlth Econ, S-22100 Lund, Sweden.

  Queensland Univ Technol, Brisbane Grad Sch Business, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.'
author: Clarke, PM and Gerdtham, UG and Connelly, LB
author_list:
- family: Clarke
  given: PM
- family: Gerdtham
  given: UG
- family: Connelly
  given: LB
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.1002/hec.767
files: []
issn: 1057-9230
journal: HEALTH ECONOMICS
keywords: 'health inequality; concentration index; decomposition; short form 36;

  Australia; unemployment'
keywords-plus: CARE
language: English
month: JUN
number: '6'
number-of-cited-references: '18'
orcid-numbers: 'Gerdtham, Ulf-Göran/0000-0002-0647-7817

  Connelly, Luke/0000-0002-1734-4809

  Clarke, Philip/0000-0002-7555-5348'
pages: 511-516
papis_id: 8f00e78a09b41e4c2ed07a798417caf3
ref: Clarke2003notedecomposition
researcherid-numbers: 'Connelly, Luke B/F-6578-2010

  Gerdtham, Ulf-Göran/I-6766-2018

  '
times-cited: '39'
title: A note on the decomposition of the health concentration index
type: Article
unique-id: WOS:000183314300007
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '11'
volume: '12'
web-of-science-categories: Economics; Health Care Sciences \& Services; Health Policy
  \& Services
year: '2003'