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ABSTRACT
Current dialogues on changes in collecting race and ethnicity data have not considered the complexity of tabulating multiple race responses among Hispanics. Racial and ethnic identification-and its public reporting-among Hispanics/Latinos in the United States is embedded in dynamic social factors. Ignoring these factors leads to significant problems in interpreting data and understanding the relationship of race, ethnicity, and health among Hispanics/ Latinos. In the flurry of activity to resolve challenges posed by multiple race responses, we must remember the larger issue that looms in the foreground-the lack of adequate estimates of mortality and health conditions affecting Hispanics/Latinos. The implications are deemed important because Hispanics/Latinos will become the largest minority group in the United States within the next decade. (Am J Public Health. 2000;90: 1724-1727)
The major objective of the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB's) review of the statistical standards used throughout the federal government to collect and publish data on race and ethnicity was to enhance the accuracy of demographic information about the nation's population. This commentary focuses on the impact of these changes on health data among Hispanic/Latino populations. The implications are deemed important because Hispanics/Latinos will be the largest minority group in the United States by 2010.1 To date, existing systems for gathering data on the health status of Americans are seriously flawed in their ability to provide accurate, complete, and timely data on the health of Hispanic/Latino Americans.2-4 As a result, Hispanics/Latinos remain largely ignored in the national scientific and public discourse on health.
Changes Relevant to Hispanics
The most directly relevant issue was whether to add "Hispanic" as an option to the race question on government forms. Research was conducted to test what effect separate Hispanic ethnicity and race questions, along with their sequencing, would have in comparison with a single question. Findings indicated that a separate Hispanic-origin question that preceded the race question yielded the lowest nonresponse rate for the Hispanic-origin question and the lowest rate of reporting "other race" by Hispanics in the race question.5-7 On the basis of these findings, the new standards stipulate that the Hispanic-origin question should be asked separately, before the race question, if self-identification is used.8 The new standards also state that when data on race and ethnicity are collected separately,...