Toward a Conceptualization of Race in Epidemiologic Research

This paper is a review of the prevailing conceptual basis of the use of race in health research. The author explores the current definitions of race in health research, and describes some of the history of race fabrication. In the examination of the association between race and disease the author describes black/white differences in age-adjusted mortality, infant mortality rates and birthweight. The analysis of race and disease is frustrated by incomplete theoretical constructs. Race, as used in health research, tends to be a unidimensional construct and the complex interplay between race and other social status variables is simplified. These problems are illustrated, and the author suggests a multidimensional construct of race.