Challenges with Misclassification of American Indian/Alaska Native Race and Hispanic Ethnicity on Death Records in North Carolina Occupational Fatalities Surveillance

Details

• Personal Author:
  Bell RA ; Cruz TH ; Gartner DR ; Marshall SW ; McClure ES ; Nocera M ; Richardson DB
• Description:
  As frequently segregated and exploitative environments, workplaces are important sites in driving health and mortality disparities by race and ethnicity. Because many worksites are federally regulated, US workplaces also offer opportunities for effectively intervening to mitigate these disparities. Development of policies for worker safety and equity should be informed by evidence, including results from research studies that use death records and other sources of administrative data. North Carolina has a long history of Black/white disparities in work-related mortality and evidence of such disparities is emerging in Hispanic and American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) worker populations. The size of Hispanic and AI/AN worker populations have increased in North Carolina over the last decade, and North Carolina has the largest AI/AN population in the eastern US. Previous research indicates that misidentification of Hispanic and AI/AN identities on death records can lead to underestimation of race/ethnicity-specific mortality rates. In this commentary, we describe problems and complexities involved in determining AI/AN and Hispanic identities from North Carolina death records. We provide specific examples of misidentification that are likely introducing bias to occupational mortality disparity documentation, and offer recommendations for improved data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Our primary recommendation is to build and maintain relationships with local community leadership, so that improvements in the ascertainment of race and ethnicity are grounded in the lived experience of workers from communities of color. [Description provided by NIOSH]
• Subjects:
  Epidemiology Mortality Occupational Health Safety
• Keywords:
  Author Keywords: Disparities Data Processing Death Certificates Ethnicity Fatalities Mortality Rates Mortality Studies Occupational Epidemiology Occupational Health Policy Race Statistical Quality Control Worker Safety

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• ISSN:
  2674-1199
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Grant
• Genre:
  Journal Article
• Place as Subject:
  California ; Michigan ; New Mexico ; North Carolina ; OSHA Region 4 ; OSHA Region 5 ; OSHA Region 6 ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Volume:
  2
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20070860
• Citation:
  Front Epidemiol 2022 Oct; 2:878309
• Contact Point Address:
  Elizabeth S. McMclure, NC Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
• Email:
  emcclure@unc.edu
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2023
• Performing Organization:
  University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Peer Reviewed:
  True
• Start Date:
  20180901
• Source Full Name:
  Frontiers in Epidemiology
• End Date:
  20220831
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:359d691a74d0b9a52cf5f6093f6f6ce1fc1468a6dad5121c003f245131cc3253c69c1dcd0c7781476b555ac0a5d123c0ac9ef1e0aaac528907d57456ea69ec6c
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/208990/cdc_208990_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.23 MB ]