SynthesisEpidemiologic reviews2023
"We adjusted for race": now what? A systematic review of utilization and reporting of race in American Journal of Epidemiology and Epidemiology, 2020-2021.
Synthesis in Epidemiologic reviews, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 72 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
72 citing papers in PubMed.
- Continuity of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in States With and Without Medicaid Prescription Cap Policies.Medical care · 2026Article
- The Weight Management Hope Scale: Initial Validation of a Measure to Assess Goal-Directed Thinking in Obesity Research and Practice.Obesity science & practice · 2026Article
- Family communication and child behavior problems during the COVID-19 pandemic.Developmental psychology · 2026Article
- Associations of drinking water and urinary uranium with incident diabetes among U.S. adults: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and the Strong Heart Family Study.Environmental research · 2026Article
- Article
- Prenatal Water Fluoride Exposure and Children's Behavioral Problems.JAMA network open · 2026Observational
- Examining Pubertal and Cognitive Differences in Adolescent Depressive Symptoms Using Drift Diffusion Modeling.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2026Article
- Early life adversity and cardiometabolic risk in adolescents: Comparison of dimensional and cumulative approaches to adversity.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Associations of Allopregnanolone and Related Steroid Hormones with Prenatal Psychosocial Distress in the Healthy Start Cohort.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A cross-sectional analysis of baseline diet quality among participants enrolled in delicious eating for life in the southern homes weight loss randomized trial.Nutrition and health · 2026Article
- Bridging the Gap Between Research and Policy: Exploring Political Determinants of Immigrant Health in an Urban County With High Cervical Cancer Disparities.Community health equity research & policy · 2026Article
- Social determinants as pathways in disparities in oral cavity cancer stage at diagnosis: a registry-based analysis from 2010-2020.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2026Article
- The use of race and ethnicity in air pollution epidemiology and methodological recommendations: A scoping review focusing on California.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2026Review
- Suicide and Drug Overdose Mortality Among Washington State Workers: A Stratified Analysis by Industry, Occupation, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity, 2014-2023.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Association between preeclampsia and eclampsia in Black women with endometriosis: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Layoffs in automobile manufacturing and mortality among remaining workers.Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal patterns of urinary biomarkers of placental and renal function in pregnancy and associations with early pregnancy exposure to phthalates and replacements.Reproductive toxicology (Elmsford, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Arrest Status, Suicide-Related Outcomes, and Moderating Social Factors: A Cross-sectional Study of a U.S. Sample (2015-2019).Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- Social determinants of health as risk and protective factors for health care access among sexual and gender minority parents.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Association Between Mental Illness and Risk of Severe Maternal Morbidity in Pregnant Veterans.Obstetrics and gynecology · 2026Article
12 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Race is a social construct, commonly used in epidemiologic research to adjust for confounding. However, adjustment of race may mask racial disparities, thereby perpetuating structural racism. We conducted a systematic review of articles published in Epidemiology and American Journal of Epidemiology between 2020 and 2021 to (1) understand how race, ethnicity, and similar social constructs were operationalized, used, and reported; and (2) characterize good and poor practices of utilization and reporting of race data on the basis of the extent to which they reveal or mask systemic racism. Original research articles were considered for full review and data extraction if race data were used in the study analysis. We extracted how race was categorized, used-as a descriptor, confounder, or for effect measure modification (EMM)-and reported if the authors discussed racial disparities and systemic bias-related mechanisms responsible for perpetuating the disparities. Of the 561 articles, 299 had race data available and 192 (34.2%) used race data in analyses. Among the 160 US-based studies, 81 different racial categorizations were used. Race was most often used as a confounder (52%), followed by effect measure modifier (33%), and descriptive variable (12%). Fewer than 1 in 4 articles (22.9%) exhibited good practices (EMM along with discussing disparities and mechanisms), 63.5% of the articles exhibited poor practices (confounding only or not discussing mechanisms), and 13.5% were considered neither poor nor good practices. We discuss implications and provide 13 recommendations for operationalization, utilization, and reporting of race in epidemiologic and public health research.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.