Sampling Asian minorities to assess health and welfare.
OBJECTIVE
The aims were (1) to sample a specified subgroup of the Asian minority; (2) to give proper representation to those outside the areas of concentration; and (3) to evaluate the costs and benefits of the method.


METHODS
Glasgow postcodes with varying concentrations of Asians were sampled, and 173 Asians aged 30-40 were interviewed after household screening of 1439 Asian names identified on the electoral roll or valuation roll. Areas with few Asians, and households with two or more members aged 30-40, were undersampled, and then reweighted.


RESULTS
Nurse measures of blood pressure, lung function, and body mass were taken, and selected interview measures of health and social background are reported. Substantial differences in blood pressure, reported health, and social background were revealed between Asians in areas of concentration and those in areas of dispersion. Loss in effective sample size due to undersampling and reweighting was 4-5% in the case of the area sampling, 13% in the case of the household sampling. Losses of potential sample members through under registration were probably less than 6%.


CONCLUSIONS
The present sampling method targets subgroups successfully, and improves on sampling in areas of concentration, in that it enables dispersed members of the minority, who differ in crucial indices of health and social position, to be represented. The costs of the method are acceptable.
Ecob
R
R
MRC Medical Sociology Unit, Glasgow, U.K.
Williams
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001208:Asia / Q000208:ethnology; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D008297:Male; D011156:Population Density; D012494:Sampling Studies; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D012924:Social Conditions