The reporting of race and/or ethnicity in the medical literature

• Verfasst von: Bokor-Billmann, Therezia [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Langan, Ewan Andrew [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Billmann, Franck [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: The reporting of race and/or ethnicity in the medical literature
• Titelzusatz: a retrospective bibliometric analysis confirmed room for improvement
• Verf.angabe: Therezia Bokor-Billmann, MD, Ewan A. Langan, MD, Franck Billmann, MD, PhD
• E-Jahr: 2020
• Jahr: [2020]
• Jahr des Originals: 2019
• Umfang: 6 S.
• Fussnoten: Published online 9 November 2019 ; Gesehen am 14.04.2020
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Journal of clinical epidemiology
• Ort Quelle: Amsterdam [u.a.] : Elsevier Science, 1988
• Jahr Quelle: 2020
• Band/Heft Quelle: 119(2020), Seite 1-6
• ISSN Quelle: 1878-5921
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2019.11.005
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Data collection
• Sach-SW: Ethnic groups
• Sach-SW: Guideline adherence
• Sach-SW: Medical writing
• Sach-SW: Population groups
• Sach-SW: Publishing
• K10plus-PPN: 1694456293

Abstract

Objectives - Although the collection of race and/or ethnicity data is an important way to identify and address inequalities in health care provision and disparities in access to treatment, studies examining the extent to which race and/or ethnicity data are reported in the medical literature, and the quality of these data, are lacking. Therefore, we sought to objectively determine the quality of reporting of race and/or ethnicity in original medical research papers. - Study Design and Setting - A retrospective bibliometric analysis was used. Two independent investigators analyzed original articles investigating race/ethnicity, published between 2007 and 2018, in the 10 top-ranking academic journals in each of the following categories: general medicine, surgery, and oncology. - Results - A total of 995 original articles were included in our analysis. Only 45 studies (4.52%) provided a formal definition of race/ethnicity, and 8.94% identified the investigator responsible for the classification. While race/ethnicity was a key part of study design in 31.86% of the included investigations, the method used to classify individuals into racial/ethnic groups was described in only 10.25% of articles. In terms of terminology, we identified 81 different race/ethnicity classifications, but these were often imprecise and open to interpretation. - Conclusion - There is significant room for improvement in the collection, reporting, and publishing of data describing ethnicity and/or race in the medical literature.