The correspondence between interracial births and multiple-race reporting.
OBJECTIVE
Race-specific health statistics are routinely reported in scientific publications; most describe health disparities across groups. Census 2000 showed that 2.4% of the US population identifies with more than 1 race group. We examined the hypothesis that multiple-race reporting is associated with interracial births by comparing parental race reported on birth certificates with reported race in a national health survey.


METHODS
US natality data from 1968 through 1998 and National Health Interview Survey data from 1990 through 1998 were compared, by year of birth.


RESULTS
Overall multiple-race survey responses correspond to expectations from interracial births. However, there are discrepancies for specific multiple-race combinations.


CONCLUSIONS
Projected estimates of the multiple-race population can be only partially informed by vital records.
Parker
Jennifer D
JD
Office of Analysis, Epidemiology, and Health Promotion, National Center for Health Statistics, Hyattsville, Md 20782, USA. jdparker@cdc.gov
Madans
Jennifer H
JH
D001719:Birth Certificates; D001723:Birth Rate; D005006:Ethnicity / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D044469:Racial Groups; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology