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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Joseph C. Bareta, MS¹, Kathy Angeles, MPH², Anne Worthington¹, Kimberley Peters¹, Karen Edge, MPH², Elizabeth Zell, MStat³, Michael Landen, MD, MPH¹, Joan Baumbach, MD, MS, MPH¹, and Bernadette Albanese, MD, MPH¹. (1) Epidemiology and Response Division, New Mexico Department of Health, 1190 St Francis Drive rm 1350, Santa Fe, NM 87502, 505-827-0081, joseph.bareta@state.nm.us, (2) Institute for Public Health, University of New Mexico, 2300 Menaul Blvd. NE, Suite 400, Albuquerque, NM 87107, (3) National Center for Infectious Diseases, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Active Bacterial Core Surveillance and Division of Bacterial and Mycotic Diseases, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30333

New Mexico (NM) Department of Health infection disease (ID) surveillance collects race and ethnicity data through hospital record review and direct patient interview by public health (PH) staff. Reported cases of food borne and invasive bacterial diseases from 2004 were matched to the NM vital records birth registry using Soundex and birth date. Concordance of race and ethnicity coding was measured by percent agreement. Of 1,393 cases in 2004, 498 (36%) occurred in persons aged 25 years or less, allowing for an electronic match to birth files. Three hundred fifty eight (72%) records matched; 59 (16%) cases with unknown race and 55 (15%) cases with unknown ethnicity were excluded from their respective analyses. Distribution of race among ID cases in the matched population was 64% white, 33% American Indian, 2% Asian, and 1% Black. Racial distribution of NM births in 2004 were 80% white, 15% American Indian, 3% Black and 2% Asian. Concordance of race was 94% between ID data and the birth registry, with percent agreement of 96% for white race, 93% for American Indian, 60% for Asian, and 50% for African American. In 2004, 58% of NM births had Hispanic ethnicity recorded. Concordance of ethnicity was 90%; percent agreement was 91% for Hispanics and 85% for Non-Hispanics. Race and ethnicity data collected by hospitals and PH staff had good concordance with coding from birth registry in New Mexico. The use of these indicators assists in identifying and strengthens interpretation of risk factors important to disease surveillance and control.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the session, the participant in this session will be able to

• Develop methods to evaluate accuracy of race and ethnicity coding in local settings.
• develop matching criteria for merging different data bases.
• Apply techniques to assess concordance of race/ethnicity coding.
• recognize potential misclassification of race/ethnicity.

Keywords: Data Collection, Ethnicity

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered