Health equity is a growing priority for health care systems in Canada. Measuring health inequalities by stratifying health indicators by population subgroups can help advance health equity.
This page provides guidance and resources on how to select relevant equity stratifiers (socio-demographic variables), as well as approaches for accessing equity stratifier data for the health indicator of interest.
Select relevant equity stratifiers
Conduct a literature review
Conduct a literature review to identify equity stratifiers of relevance to your health topic.
- Resource: Literature review template
This template provides guidance on developing a search strategy and then documenting and synthesizing your search results.
Download the template (XLSX)
Review equity stratifiers
Review equity stratifiers (socio-demographic variables) that are commonly used for measuring health inequalities, as well as their standard definitions.
- Resource: Equity stratifiers web page
This page includes several documents outlining pan-Canadian guidance for reporting on 8 equity stratifiers: age, sex, gender, income, geographic location, racialized group, Indigenous identity and education.
Visit the web page > - Resource: Guidance on the Use of Standards for Race-Based and Indigenous Identity Data Collection and Health Reporting in Canada
This document provides pan-Canadian minimum standards for collecting race-based and Indigenous identity data in health care, along with guidance on safe and appropriate use of the data.
Download the document (PDF)
Use multiple stratifiers for disaggregation
Consider disaggregating your health indicator data using multiple stratifiers simultaneously (e.g., by income and sex) by incorporating principles of intersectionality (i.e., recognizing that people occupy multiple social domains and identities that contribute to unique experiences of advantage and disadvantage).
Explore approaches for accessing equity stratifiers
Consider these 3 approaches to access equity stratifier data for your analysis:
Leverage existing health databases
Use equity stratifier data embedded within health databases.
- Resource: Equity Stratifier Inventory
Use this document to see which individual and area-level equity stratifiers are available within selected CIHI and Statistics Canada health data.
Download the document (XLSX)
Link stratifiers at the area level
Link health and equity stratifier data at the area level (e.g., hospital data linked to neighbourhood income level using patient postal codes).
- Resource: Area-Level Equity Stratifiers Using PCCF and PCCF+
This guide summarizes information for applying an area-level approach to measuring health inequalities using Statistics Canada’s Postal Code Conversion File (PCCF) and Postal Code Conversion File Plus (PCCF+) tools.
Download the document (PDF)
Link stratifiers at the individual level
Link health and equity stratifier data at the individual level (e.g., hospital data linked to census information such as individual income).
- Resource: Canadian Research Data Centres (RDC) Network
Submit a custom request to Statistics Canada to access individual data files. Statistics Canada also provides a search tool to query data available through the RDCs.
Visit Research Data Centres web page
Complete the Analysis Plan Template
By the end of the planning phase, you will have the information you need to complete the Analysis Plan Template (PDF).
- Resource: Analysis Plan Template
Download the document (PDF)