The operationalization of race and ethnicity concepts in medical classification systems: Issues of validity and utility

Health Informatics Journal

Volumn 11, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 259-274

  Aspinall, Peter J ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF KENT   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Biomedical databases; Classifications; Controlled vocabulary; Ethnicity; MeSH

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; BIBLIOGRAPHIC DATABASE; CLASSIFICATION; EMBASE; ETHNIC DIFFERENCE; ETHNIC GROUP; ETHNOLOGY; INFORMATION RETRIEVAL; MEDICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM; MEDICAL LITERATURE; MEDLINE; NOMENCLATURE; POPULATION RESEARCH; RACE; RACE DIFFERENCE;

EID: 29644439512     PISSN: 14604582     EISSN: 17412811     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/1460458205055688     Document Type: Article

References (45)

1. Montgomery S. Of towers, walls, and fields: perspectives on language in science. Science 2004; 303; 1333-5.
2. Coon C, Garn S, Birdsell J. Races: A Study of the Problems of Race Formation in Man. Springfield: Thomas, 1950.
3. Molnar S. Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups: The Problem of Ethnic Variation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1975.
4. Winick C. Dictionary of Anthropology. London: Owen (printed in USA), 1957 (also 1972).
5. Morris W ed. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: American Heritage, 1970.
6. Jackson J P. 'In Ways Unacademical': the reception of Carleton S. Coon's The Origin of Races. Journal of the History of Biology 2001; 34; 247-85.
7. Blumenbach J F. Über die natürlichen Verschiedenheiten im Menschengeschlechte. Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hartel, 1798.
8. MacGregor M J. Integration of the Armed Forces 1940-1965. Washington, DC: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1985.
9. Afshari R, Bhopal R S. Changing pattern of use of 'ethnicity' and 'race' in scientific literature. International Journal of Epidemiology 2002; 31; 1074.
10. Aspinall P J. Describing the 'White' ethnic group and its composition in medical research. Social Science and Medicine 1998; 47; 1797-1808.
11. Sankar P. MEDLINE definitions of race and ethnicity and their application to genetic research. Nature Genetics 2003; 34 (2); 119.
12. Nelson S J. In reply. Nature Genetics 2003; 34 (2); 120.
13. Tybaert S, Rosov J. MEDLINE data changes - 2004. NLM Technical Bulletin 2003; Nov.-Dec., 335; e6.
14. Schulman J. What's new for 2004 MeSH®? NLM Technical Bulletin 2003; Nov.-Dec., 335; e3.
15. Schwartz R S. Racial profiling in medical research. New England Journal of Medicine 2001; 344; 1392-3.
16. Editorial. Genes, drugs and race. Nature Genetics 2001; 29; 265-9.
17. Witzig R. The medicalization of race: scientific legitimization of a flawed social construct. Annals of Internal Medicine 1996; 125 (8); 675-9.
18. Risch N, Burchard E, Ziv E, Tang H. Categorization of humans in biomedical research: genes, race and disease. Genome Biology 2002; 3 (7); 1-11.
19. Pearce N, Foliaki S, Sporle A, Cunningham C. Genetics, race, ethnicity, and health. British Medical Journal 2004; 328; 1070-2.
20. Lewontin R C. The Doctrine of DNA. London: Penguin, 1991.
21. Feldman M W, Lewontin R C, King M C. A genetic melting-pot. Nature 2003; 424; 374.
22. Bourne J. Racism and Jewish Feminism. London: Institute of Race Relations, 1985.
23. Gilroy P. There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack. London: Hutchinson, 1987.
24. Gilroy P. The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness. London: Verso, 1993.
25. Jenkins R. Rethinking ethnicity: identity, categorization and power. Ethnic and Racial Studies 1994; 17 (2); 197-223.
26. Smith R. On the disutility of the notion of 'ethnic group'. In Smith R ed. The Matrifocal Family: Power Pluralism, and Politics. London: Routledge, 1996.
27. Harrison F V. Racial and gender inequalities in health and health care. Medical Anthropology Quarterly 1994; 8 (1); 90-5.
28. Tucker C, McKay R, Kojetin B, Harrison R, de la Puente M, Stinson L, Robison E. Testing Methods of Collecting Racial and Ethnic Information: Results of the Current Population Survey Supplement on Race and Ethnicity. Washington, DC: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1996 (June).
29. Statistics Canada. Definitions of Concepts and Variables: Ethnicity. http://www.statcan.ca/english/concepts/definitions/ethnicity.htm, 16 December 2004.
30. Stasiulis D. Symbolic representation and the numbers game: Tory policies on 'race' and visible minorities. In F Abele ed. How Ottawa Spends: The Politics of Fragmentation, 1991-1992 229-67. Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1991.
31. Bannerji H. The paradox of diversity: the construction of a multicultural Canada and 'Women of Color'. Women's Studies International Forum 2000; 23 (5); 537-60.
32. Aspinall P J. Who is Asian? A category that remains contested in population and health research. Journal of Public Health Medicine 2003; 25 (2); 91-7.
33. Bhopal R S, Phillimore P, Kohli H S. Inappropriate use of the term 'Asian': an obstacle to ethnicity and health research. Journal of Public Health Medicine 1992; 123; 244-6.
34. NHSIA. CDS, HES and Workforce: Ethnic Data. Finalised Coding Frame. DSC Notice 02/2001. Birmingham: NHSIA, 2001 (February).
35. NHSIA. Clinical Terminology Service: Frequently Asked Questions about Clinical Terms (the Read Codes). http://www.nhsia.nhs.uk/terms/pages/faq.asp?om=m1, 16 December 2004.
36. ONS, GRO(S), NISRA. Census 2001: Definitions (SE/2004/106). London: Stationery Office, 2004. See also http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/census2001/ definitions_chapter_6_Part_1.pdf, 16 December 2004.
37. Bowker G C, Star S L. Sorting Things Out: Classification and Its Consequences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000.
38. Dewey M, Mitchell J S, Beall J, Martin G, Matthews W E, New G R. Dewey Decimal Classification and Relative Index, Edition 22 (DDC 22). Dublin, OH: OCLC, 2003.
39. Furner J, Dunbar A W. The treatment of topics relating to people of mixed race in bibliographic classification schemes: a critical race-theoretic approach. Advances in Knowledge Organization 2004; 9; 115-20.
40. Office for Management and Budget. Recommendations from the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Race and Ethnicity Standards to the Office for Management and Budget Concerning Changes to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity. Federal Register 7/9/97, Part II, 36,873-36,946.
41. Office for National Statistics. Ethnic Group Statistics: A Guide for the Collection and Classification of Ethnicity Data. London: Office for National Statistics, 2003.
42. Efthimiadis E N, Afifi M. Population groups: indexing, coverage, and retrieval effectiveness of ethnically related health care issues in health sciences databases. Bulletin of the Medical Library Association 1996; 84 (3); 386-96.
43. Secretary of State, State of Washington. Certificate of Enrollment. Engrossed Senate Bill 5954. Chapter 307, Laws of 2002. 57th Legislature. 2002 Regular Session. Racial terminology: obsolete references. [Effective date: 7/1/02]. 2002.
44. Judicial Studies Board. Race and the Courts. London: Judicial Studies Board, 1999.
45. American Psychological Association. Publication Manual Section 15: Racial and Ethnic Identity. Washington DC: American Psychological Association, 1997.