Racial and Ethnic Differences in Nonresponse Rate to Experiences of Discrimination: A Secondary Analysis of the nuMoM2b Dataset.
Kathryn Kravetz Carr, Jordan Pelkmans, Lisa M Thompson and 2 others
PMID 42411552WHAT IT FOUND
In 9,289 pregnant patients, 6.1% skipped a discrimination question versus 1.3% saying yes.
Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black patients were more likely to skip than non-Hispanic White patients after accounting for age, BMI, education and poverty.
Key findings
01570 (6.1%) did not respond to the discrimination item, while 121 (1.3%) reported experiencing discrimination.
02After adjustment for age, BMI, education and poverty, the adjusted odds of nonresponse were 1.75 times those of non-Hispanic White participants for Hispanic participants and 1.58 times for non-Hispanic Black participants.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The discrimination measure was a single yes/no item, so complex experiences were oversimplified. Income was missing for 18.9% of participants, limiting adjustment for socioeconomic factors. Group differences by response type were descriptive and exploratory; post-hoc comparisons were not conducted. The study could not rule out that nonresponse was related to the sensitive item itself, so no statistical method fully corrected the bias. Participants were nulliparous individuals with singleton pregnancies in one research cohort, and the survey context and comfort with disclosure were not fully known. Data collection occurred between 2010 and 2013, and public discourse about race during that period may have affected willingness to disclose.
Declared interests
One co-author, Dr. Melinda Higgins, serves as an Associate Editor for Research in Nursing & Health. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest. The supplied text does not report a funding source.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 1.3% reported discrimination rate as a complete measure of discrimination. The study also found 6.1% nonresponse, and adjusted models showed higher odds of nonresponse for Hispanic and non-Hispanic Black participants than for non-Hispanic White participants.