ANTC67H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Recall Bias, Social Epidemiology, Social Mobility
Document Summary
What makes a good epidemiologic variable: epidemiologic variable are measures that aid in the analysis of patterns of disease, often reflect an underlying construct that may not be easily measurable or may be very complex, characteristics: Should differentiate population into groups based on characteristic relevant to health. Difference in health outcome between these groups should lead to testable hypotheses about disease etiology. Ethnicity: a social construct referring to social groups that have: Shared cultural and tradition that are unique are passed on through generation and result in a sense of identity as a grouo. A common language or religion: not nationality, not migrant status. Is ethnicity a good epidemiologic variable: considerations: Skin color: reflective of race and not ethnicity. Country of birth: objective but crude, ignore current lifestyle or self- perception. Surname: not all surname are distinctive, ignore adoption and marriage. Self-perception: acceptable and often used, is changeable over time and make it difficult to monitor health pattern meaningfully.
