Wednesday, May 23, 2007
How to count Hispanics
Last week there was a lot of hoop-la in the news about the number of minorities in the USA. Keep in mind, millions and millions are not citizens, and many more are here illegally. Then ask, just how are Hispanics counted? In my previous entry I recorded where the catch-all term came from.
I was reading two back to back articles in JAMA, one on HIV/AIDS and one on AORC (arthritis and other rheumatic conditions). Hispanics, this non-specific, non-racial group based on surname, were counted differently. For the HIV/AIDS article, "Persons identified as white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native or other unknown race are all non-Hispanic. Persons identified as Hispanic might be any race." So a 4th generation New Yorker, black Puerto Rican-American or Guatamalan Indian-African-American whose grandfather slipped over the border in 1986 during the last amnesty bungle is Hispanic because grandpa spoke Spanish?
For arthritis, however, which incidently costs the USA $128 billion a year, or 1.2% of GDP, you are either white or non-white, Hispanic or non-Hispanic. I think this allows all the studies to be done over in 5 years because they weren't "diverse" enough.
I was reading two back to back articles in JAMA, one on HIV/AIDS and one on AORC (arthritis and other rheumatic conditions). Hispanics, this non-specific, non-racial group based on surname, were counted differently. For the HIV/AIDS article, "Persons identified as white, black, Asian/Pacific Islander, American Indian/Alaska Native or other unknown race are all non-Hispanic. Persons identified as Hispanic might be any race." So a 4th generation New Yorker, black Puerto Rican-American or Guatamalan Indian-African-American whose grandfather slipped over the border in 1986 during the last amnesty bungle is Hispanic because grandpa spoke Spanish?
For arthritis, however, which incidently costs the USA $128 billion a year, or 1.2% of GDP, you are either white or non-white, Hispanic or non-Hispanic. I think this allows all the studies to be done over in 5 years because they weren't "diverse" enough.
# posted by Norma : 5/23/2007 08:03:00 AM
