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- Title
Quality of ethnicity data within Scottish health records and implications of misclassification for ethnic inequalities in severe COVID-19: a national linked data study.
- Authors
Amele, Sarah; McCabe, Ronan; Kibuchi, Eliud; Pearce, Anna; Hainey, Kirsten; Demou, Evangelia; Irizar, Patricia; Kapadia, Dharmi; Taylor, Harry; Nazroo, James; Bécares, Laia; Buchanan, Duncan; Henery, Paul; Jayacodi, Sandra; Woolford, Lana; Simpson, Colin R; Sheikh, Aziz; Jeffrey, Karen; Shi, Ting; Daines, Luke
- Abstract
Background We compared the quality of ethnicity coding within the Public Health Scotland Ethnicity Look-up (PHS-EL) dataset, and other National Health Service datasets, with the 2011 Scottish Census. Methods Measures of quality included the level of missingness and misclassification. We examined the impact of misclassification using Cox proportional hazards to compare the risk of severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (hospitalization & death) by ethnic group. Results Misclassification within PHS-EL was higher for all minority ethnic groups [12.5 to 69.1%] compared with the White Scottish majority [5.1%] and highest in the White Gypsy/Traveller group [69.1%]. Missingness in PHS-EL was highest among the White Other British group [39%] and lowest among the Pakistani group [17%]. PHS-EL data often underestimated severe COVID-19 risk compared with Census data. e.g. in the White Gypsy/Traveller group the Hazard Ratio (HR) was 1.68 [95% Confidence Intervals (CI): 1.03, 2.74] compared with the White Scottish majority using Census ethnicity data and 0.73 [95% CI: 0.10, 5.15] using PHS-EL data; and HR was 2.03 [95% CI: 1.20, 3.44] in the Census for the Bangladeshi group versus 1.45 [95% CI: 0.75, 2.78] in PHS-EL. Conclusions Poor quality ethnicity coding in health records can bias estimates, thereby threatening monitoring and understanding ethnic inequalities in health.
- Subjects
SCOTLAND; MORTALITY risk factors; RISK assessment; CROSS-sectional method; AFRICANS; DATABASE management; SECONDARY analysis; RESEARCH funding; HOSPITAL care; CENSUS; SEVERITY of illness index; WHITE people; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; LONGITUDINAL method; ELECTRONIC health records; BANGLADESHIS; PAKISTANIS; BLACK Africans; ARABS; DATA quality; HEALTH equity; PUBLIC health; MINORITIES; CONFIDENCE intervals; DATA analysis software; SOCIODEMOGRAPHIC factors; INDIANS (Asians); COVID-19; PROPORTIONAL hazards models; NOSOLOGY
- Publication
Journal of Public Health, 2024, Vol 46, Issue 1, p116
- ISSN
1741-3842
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1093/pubmed/fdad196