• Overview

• Age and Gender

• Race and Ethnicity

• Risk Groups

Overview

The demographic group options available for analysis in the Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health are age, gender, race, ethnicity and risk. The combination of and value selections within the demographic groups are unique to each indicator, and are based on those commonly used to analyze that particular indicator. Each indicator includes up to 4 of 5 demographic group options listed, and all indicators will include age, race and ethnicity options.

Age, gender, race and ethnicity are demographic characteristics that individuals are born with, and they consequently have no control over which group they belong. Value selections among these demographic groups usually define the rate denominator, but they can also be analyzed as risk groups.

Risk usually refers to various medical, behavioral and environmental characteristics. Unlike age, gender, race and ethnicity, an individual may have at least some level of control over whether or not he/she belongs to one or more risk groups.

The Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health can be used to display and compare the geographic patterns of rates of a particular reproductive indicator and associated risk groups by different demographic subpopulations. The results can be used to describe the prevalence of risk in a geographic area and/or disparities between demographic subpopulations based on the geographic area and spatial patterns revealed.

Age and Gender

Age categories used in the Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health are commonly reported groupings for each indicator and are usually, but not necessarily, mutually exclusive. For example, groups for perinatal mortality periods overlap both fetal and infant ages whereas neonatal and postneonatal infant mortality do not.

The unit of age depends upon the indicator. For example, infant age is reported in days whereas adult ages are reported in years. The unit of age is clearly stated in the title of the map or table displayed.

The unit of measure for age is truncated to the nearest whole number for all age groups. This means that a person is considered 30 years old beginning on his/her 30th birthday and continuing through the coming year until his/her 31st birthday.

Gender is defined as either male or female. If the sex of an individual is undetermined (not coded as male or female) then the gender is treated in the analysis as missing.

Several of the indicators used in the Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health are defined by only one gender. For example, the general fertility rate is defined by women only. In this case, gender will not appear as a demographic selection.

Race and Ethnicity

The race and ethnicity categories used in the Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health are defined according to Office of Management and Budget, Statistical Policy Directive 15¹ and Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.²

The revised Directive 15 defines four minimum categories for data on race: "American Indian or Alaska Native," "Asian or Pacific Islander," "Black or African American," and white; and  two categories for data on ethnicity: "Hispanic or Latino" and "Non-Hispanic."

The standards for race and ethnicity are not based upon biological or anthropological concepts. The categories were developed in response to needs for collecting standardized data to be used by federal agencies for record keeping, collection and presentation of data (i.e., federal surveys, the decennial census and monitoring various civil rights laws).

The Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity was implemented beginning with year 2000 data. The 4 minimum categories were expanded to include five minimum categories for data on race by splitting the Asian or Pacific Islander category into two categories—"Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander." The term “Hispanic” was changed to “Latino”. The other race categories remain the same.

The race category for infant children (as well as fetal deaths) is determined for statistical purposes based on the race of the mother as reported on the birth certificate.³

Ethnic origin is not reported by Puerto Rico or American Samoa.³

References

1. Office of Management and Budget. Directive No. 15: Race and ethnic standards for federal statistics and administrative reporting. Statistical Policy Handbook. U.S. Department of Commerce, Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards; 1978.

2. U.S. Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/
   race/Ombdir15.html

3. National Vital Statistics Report , 2000;48(3) 6.21MB-PDF.

Risk Groups

Risk groups usually define the indicator rate numerators. Risk groups available in the Interactive Atlas of Reproductive Health are medical, behavioral, or environmental characteristics that may put an individual at risk for a given outcome, usually an undesirable outcome. Medical risks are such things as diabetes or anemia; behavioral risks are such things as tobacco use or weight gain during pregnancy. They are characteristics of an individual. Environmental characteristics are such things as poverty level or proximity to a pollution site. They are contextual and describe the ecology in which the individual exists.

The risk groups available for analysis of a particular indicator are commonly reported groupings for that indicator and are usually not mutually exclusive. For example, a individual woman may be anemic, drink alcohol excessively, and live in a high crime area.

Some risk groups are indexes of several characteristics such as adequacy of prenatal care which is derived from an algorithm that uses time of entry into prenatal care, number of prenatal care visits, gestational age at birth and sometimes sex and birthweight.

To learn more about PDF files and to download PDF files, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader software, which is available free of charge from Adobe. The HTML version alters the format of the original printed document. Using the PDF version will preserve the document's formatting and graphics.

Page last reviewed: 7/28/08
Page last modified: 1/29/07
Content source: Division of Reproductive Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion