‘Flogging a Dead Horse’: Use of Socio-Economic Status Scales in Health Research in India

Excerpt

The use of socio-economic scales in health research in India has been at least five decade old practice now. There are a number of scales, which have been recommended for different population settings --Kuppuswamy’s scale for urban, Parikh’s scale for rural, BG Prasad’s scale for both rural and urban populations are amongst the most well known. In addition, scales such as Standard of Living Index (SLI) has been used by National Family Health Survey (NFHS) and the Deprivation Index has been used for Socio- Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in India. Each of these scales has the advantages and limitations, and for some, detailed analysis has been done and published in the past [1]. …