This presentation describes The Northwest Tribal Registry, a demographic data set of Northwest American Indians and Alaskan Natives (AI/ANs) from Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. Health data on AI/ANs reside in many registries, such as state cancer registries, Medicare beneficiary tables, and vital statistics files. Health registries may encounter two problems where AI/ANs are concerned: 1) racial identifier data are not recorded, or 2) racial identifier data are inaccurate due to racial misclassification. As a result, subsequent reports may significantly underestimate the burden of disease for AI/ANs. This, in turn, can result in reduced funding for Indian health programs if allocation is based on rates of morbidity and mortality. Also, the lack of valid baseline health status information makes it difficult to track trends in health over time. The Northwest Tribal Registry is a tribally controlled project that employs probabilistic record linkage methods to identify the extent of racial misclassification in health registries and to produce corrected statistical reports on tribal, state, and regional levels.
Learning Objectives: 1. Participants will gain an overview of the Northwest Tribal Registry Project and probabilistic record linkage methodology. 2. Participants will learn about how estimates of morbidity and mortality rates for Northwest American Indian and Alaskan Native health status have been affected
Keywords: Data/Surveillance, Ethnic Identity
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.