© 1992 Faculty of Public Health Medicine of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom
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Race and ethnicity in health research
Trevor A. Sheldon, Lecturer in Medical Statistics
Hilda Parker, Research Assistant
Department of Public Health Medicine, Leeds University 30 Hyde Terrace, Leeds LS2 9LN
Department of Community Health, Leicester University Leicester
Address correspondence to Dr T. A. L. Sheldon.
‘Race’ and ‘ethnicity’ are increasingly being used as variables in health research. However, studies have been mainly descriptive and have not been used to develop and evaluate strategies to improve health care. In part this reflects the poor analytical standards. The status of the concepts of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ as research tools are rarely considered and there is poor consistency in terminology. This paper gives an overview of the research literature and raises questions about the validity of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’ as epidemiological variables. The tendency to collect routine ethnic data and include ethnic variables in an ad hoc and uncritical way in the United Kingdom and other countries may help transform minorities into mere statistical categories and produce data and findings which reinforce stereotypes. Multiculturalist ethnic health explanations also tend to displace more material explanations of health outcomes. It is concluded that more thought and care is needed before data are routinely categorized by ethnicity, or race or ethnicity are included as variables in research.
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