Quality of ethnicity data within Scottish health records and implications of misclassification for ethnic inequalities in severe COVID-19: a national linked data study.
J Public Health (Oxf)
; 46(1): 116-122, 2024 Feb 23.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-37861114
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.Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Bases de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Etnicidad
/
COVID-19
Límite:
Humans
País/Región como asunto:
Europa
Idioma:
En
Revista:
J Public Health (Oxf)
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Reino Unido