Mayo Clinic, Department of Internal Medicine; Rochester, MN.
Mayo Clinic, Department of Medical Oncology; Rochester, MN.
Ethn Dis. 2018 Oct 18;28(4):561-564. doi: 10.18865/ed.28.4.561. eCollection 2018 Fall.
The use of race and ethnicity in biomedical research has been a subject of debate for the past three decades. Initially the two major race categories were: White and Black, leaving other minorities uncounted or inappropriately misclassified. As the science of health disparities evolves, more sophisticated and detailed information has been added to large databases. Despite the addition of new racial classifications, including multi-racial denominations, the quality of the data is limited to the data collection process and other social misconceptions. Although race is viewed as an imposed or ascribed status, ethnicity is an achieved status, making it a more challenging variable to include in biomedical research. Ambiguity between race and ethnicity often exists, ultimately affecting the value of both variables. To better understand specific health outcomes or disparities of groups, it is necessary to collect subgroup-specific data. Cultural perceptions and practices, health experiences, and susceptibility to disease vary greatly among broad racial-ethnic groups and requires the collection of nuanced data to understand. Here, we provide an overview of the classification of race and ethnicity in the United States over time, the existing challenges in using race and ethnicity in biomedical research and future research directions.
在过去的三十年中，种族和民族在生物医学研究中的使用一直是争论的主题。最初的两个主要种族类别是：白人和黑人，其他少数民族没有被计算在内或被不恰当地错误分类。随着健康差异科学的发展，更多复杂和详细的信息已被添加到大型数据库中。尽管增加了新的种族分类，包括多种族名称，但数据的质量仅限于数据收集过程和其他社会误解。尽管种族被视为强加或归因的地位，但民族是一种获得的地位，这使得它成为生物医学研究中更具挑战性的变量。种族和民族之间经常存在模糊性，最终影响了这两个变量的价值。为了更好地了解特定群体的具体健康结果或差异，有必要收集特定于子组的数据。在广泛的种族群体中，文化观念和实践、健康经验以及对疾病的易感性差异很大，需要收集细致的数据来理解。在这里，我们概述了美国种族和民族分类随时间的变化，以及在生物医学研究中使用种族和民族所面临的现有挑战和未来的研究方向。
