Four-year review of the use of race and ethnicity in epidemiologic and public health research
Four-year review of the use of race and ethnicity in epidemiologic and public health research
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DOI：
10.1093/aje/kwh084
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发表时间：
2004-03-15
影响因子：
5
通讯作者：
Lindsay, SP
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Comstock, RD;Castillo, EM;Lindsay, SP
为了确定当前的研究人员如何解决在流行病学和公共卫生研究中使用种族和民族作为变量的问题，作者对1996年至1999年发表在《美国流行病学杂志》和《美国公共卫生杂志》上的1198篇文章进行了全面审查。77%(n=919)的文章提到种族或族裔。可变类别的数量从0到24个不等，平均每篇文章3.14个。使用了种类繁多的术语来描述作为变量的种族和族裔概念，以及描述用于评估这些变量的类别。研究人员经常没有区分种族和族裔的概念，没有说明使用这些变量的背景，没有说明用于评估这些变量的研究方法，也没有讨论基于种族或族裔的重大研究结果。需要持续的专业承诺，以确保种族和族裔作为变量的科学完整性。至少，研究人员应该清楚地说明使用这些有价值的流行病学和公共卫生研究变量的背景，描述用于评估和分类这些变量的方法，并讨论所有重要的发现。
To determine how current researchers address the use of race and ethnicity as variables in epidemiologic and public health studies, the authors conducted a comprehensive review of 1,198 articles published in the American Journal of Epidemiology and the American Journal of Public Health from 1996 to 1999. Seventy-seven percent (n = 919) of the articles referred to race or ethnicity. The number of variable categories ranged from 0 to 24, with an average of 3.14 per article. An enormous diversity of terms was used to describe the concepts of race and ethnicity as variables as well as to describe the categories used to assess these variables. Researchers frequently failed to differentiate between the concepts of race and ethnicity, to state the context in which these variables were used, to state the study methods used to assess these variables, and to discuss significant study results based on race or ethnicity. Continued professional commitment is needed to ensure the scientific integrity of race and ethnicity as variables. At a minimum, researchers should clearly state the context in which these valuable epidemiologic and public health study variables are being used, describe the method used to assess and categorize these variables, and discuss all significant findings.