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Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles

BACKGROUND: The use of demographic variables in the medical literature has been a topic of much recent debate. Recent studies found that race and socioeconomic status (SES) are inconsistently reported. Best-practice use of sex and gender has been contentious. We aimed to characterise the state of me...

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Autores principales: Lynn-Green, Erika E., Ofoje, Avery A., Lynn-Green, Robert H., Jones, David S.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Elsevier 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10027500/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36949866
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101903
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author Lynn-Green, Erika E.
Ofoje, Avery A.
Lynn-Green, Robert H.
Jones, David S.
author_facet Lynn-Green, Erika E.
Ofoje, Avery A.
Lynn-Green, Robert H.
Jones, David S.
author_sort Lynn-Green, Erika E.
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The use of demographic variables in the medical literature has been a topic of much recent debate. Recent studies found that race and socioeconomic status (SES) are inconsistently reported. Best-practice use of sex and gender has been contentious. We aimed to characterise the state of medical demographic reporting in greater detail, especially regarding geography and specific terms used in articles. METHODS: Original articles were included from issues of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), JAMA, The Lancet, and the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE) published from 1 January to 31 December 2020 (n = 640). Articles without human participants, case reports, or with only aggregate data were excluded, leaving 594 articles. Use of age, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and SES were coded, as well as corresponding author and participant geography. FINDINGS: 99.0% of articles reported age. While 92.9% reported sex alone, only 4.7% used the term gender and 1.0% transgender. 47.8% of articles reported race and 29.6% reported ethnicity. Studies with U.S. corresponding authors or participants were significantly more likely to report race (72.9% and 73.7% respectively) or ethnicity (47.3% and 45.3% respectively) than those without (25.9% and 25.6% for race, 14.2% and 16.3% for ethnicity), p < 0.01 for all. Of articles reporting race, 40.9% used only a Black-white binary; of those reporting ethnicity, 85.2% included two or fewer terms. Under 5.0% of all articles used Office of Management and Budget (OMB) categories. Across all articles, 33.0% reported SES, from 15.2% in NEJM to 80.2% in AJE. INTERPRETATION: We found that while some factors (age, sex) are reported consistently, others (gender, race, ethnicity, SES) are not, despite recent attention. Authors often rely on binary or limited categories that inadequately capture human diversity. The presence of U.S. researchers or participants increased the reporting of race and/or ethnicity, highlighting wide variations that persist even as multinational collaborations become widespread. Researchers should reflect on their use of these terms, justify their decisions, and report results with care. FUNDING: None.
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spelling pubmed-100275002023-03-21 Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles Lynn-Green, Erika E. Ofoje, Avery A. Lynn-Green, Robert H. Jones, David S. eClinicalMedicine Articles BACKGROUND: The use of demographic variables in the medical literature has been a topic of much recent debate. Recent studies found that race and socioeconomic status (SES) are inconsistently reported. Best-practice use of sex and gender has been contentious. We aimed to characterise the state of medical demographic reporting in greater detail, especially regarding geography and specific terms used in articles. METHODS: Original articles were included from issues of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), JAMA, The Lancet, and the American Journal of Epidemiology (AJE) published from 1 January to 31 December 2020 (n = 640). Articles without human participants, case reports, or with only aggregate data were excluded, leaving 594 articles. Use of age, sex, gender, race, ethnicity, and SES were coded, as well as corresponding author and participant geography. FINDINGS: 99.0% of articles reported age. While 92.9% reported sex alone, only 4.7% used the term gender and 1.0% transgender. 47.8% of articles reported race and 29.6% reported ethnicity. Studies with U.S. corresponding authors or participants were significantly more likely to report race (72.9% and 73.7% respectively) or ethnicity (47.3% and 45.3% respectively) than those without (25.9% and 25.6% for race, 14.2% and 16.3% for ethnicity), p < 0.01 for all. Of articles reporting race, 40.9% used only a Black-white binary; of those reporting ethnicity, 85.2% included two or fewer terms. Under 5.0% of all articles used Office of Management and Budget (OMB) categories. Across all articles, 33.0% reported SES, from 15.2% in NEJM to 80.2% in AJE. INTERPRETATION: We found that while some factors (age, sex) are reported consistently, others (gender, race, ethnicity, SES) are not, despite recent attention. Authors often rely on binary or limited categories that inadequately capture human diversity. The presence of U.S. researchers or participants increased the reporting of race and/or ethnicity, highlighting wide variations that persist even as multinational collaborations become widespread. Researchers should reflect on their use of these terms, justify their decisions, and report results with care. FUNDING: None. Elsevier 2023-03-14 /pmc/articles/PMC10027500/ /pubmed/36949866 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101903 Text en © 2023 The Authors https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
spellingShingle Articles
Lynn-Green, Erika E.
Ofoje, Avery A.
Lynn-Green, Robert H.
Jones, David S.
Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title_full Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title_fullStr Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title_full_unstemmed Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title_short Variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
title_sort variations in how medical researchers report patient demographics: a retrospective analysis of published articles
topic Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10027500/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36949866
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eclinm.2023.101903
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