Читать книгу The Science of Health Disparities Research - Группа авторов - Страница 15

In 1997, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued the Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.² These standards are used for federal data collection purposes in the decennial US census, national household surveys, many administrative forms, and in medical and clinical research. Race and ethnicity categories have been modified over the decades to reflect the evolving demography of the United States, although full understanding of the meaning of the constructs captured by these categories is lacking and the categories need ongoing refinement and study. Currently, the five categories for race are defined as: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, and White. In addition, a multirace category was included for the first time in the 2000 census. There are two categories for ethnicity: “Hispanic or Latino” and “Not Hispanic or Latino” and the question of ethnicity is posed before the race categories. The 2020 census plans to ask about family background for all respondents and continue to collect information on nation or US territory of origin for Hispanics/Latinos, Other Pacific Islanders and Asians, as well as tribal affiliation for American Indians/Alaska Natives. We consider that standardization of race and ethnic categories is an essential component of minority health and health disparities research and recommend using the census nomenclature and definitions as the starting point for specificity and standardization in the field.