Login | Register

The racialization of disease: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of race and ethnicity in biomedical research

Title:

The racialization of disease: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of race and ethnicity in biomedical research

Small, Francine A (2013) The racialization of disease: a qualitative and quantitative analysis of race and ethnicity in biomedical research. Masters thesis, Concordia University.

[thumbnail of Small_MA-S2013.pdf]
Preview
Text (application/pdf)
Small_MA-S2013.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Spectrum Terms of Access.
805kB

Abstract

For several years, there have been published guidelines covering the use of the term “race” and “ethnicity” in biomedical research. When used inappropriately, the linkage of race or ethnic categories to cause and/or effect in biomedical research can have significant negative impacts on individuals and populations. Genetic research rejects any strong biological association/difference, between or within races. This research will determine to what degree the recommendations for the use of "race" and "ethnicity" within biomedical publications has been followed. Papers, retrieved through Pubmed were selected if they used of the terms “race” or “ethnicity” in the title or abstract, These selected papers were then examined to determine the basis for assigning population to racial categories (inclusion/exclusion), the reasons for selecting the group(s), the disease by organ system and the association made to medical outcome.. The analysis of the publications revealed that none of 205 surveyed papers defined race while 67% of the papers associated a medical outcome to race. This research suggests that despite guidelines for the use of the terms “race” and “ethnicity”, researchers and editors are neither using nor enforcing the use of them respectively. Further research should use alternative selection criteria and larger sample size to confirm these findings.

Divisions:Concordia University > Faculty of Arts and Science > Sociology and Anthropology
Item Type:Thesis (Masters)
Authors:Small, Francine A
Institution:Concordia University
Degree Name:M.A.
Program:Social and Cultural Analysis
Date:9 January 2013
Thesis Supervisor(s):Warren, Jean- Philippe and Neves-Graca, Katja and Kairouz, Sylvia
ID Code:977013
Deposited By: FRANCINE ALLISA SMALL
Deposited On:19 Jun 2013 16:30
Last Modified:18 Jan 2018 17:43
All items in Spectrum are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved. The use of items is governed by Spectrum's terms of access.

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads per month over past year

Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
- Research related to the current document (at the CORE website)
Back to top Back to top