Generalizability of U.S. Air Force studies: 1990 and 2000 demographic distribution comparison of U.S. active duty Air Force personnel and the U.S. general population.
A cross population comparison of U.S. Air Force active duty personnel data and U.S. general population estimates from 1990 and 2000 was conducted to compare "nonmodifiable" modifiers (sex, age, and race/ethnicity distributions). Two focus areas for the study were a determination of generalizability for Air Force studies using these modifiers and a discussion of limitations on comparisons between the populations. The populations were stratified by sex and then by age and race separately. Overall, the Air Force has a younger population, a higher percentage of men, and a similar rank order for race/ethnicity distributions (except for Hispanic men in 2000). When race was stratified by sex, the Air Force has a higher percentage of black women, which increased from 1990 to 2000. This baseline research should benefit future genetic epidemiologic research in determining susceptibility or disease predisposition in a large population sample that is similar to the U.S. general population.
Folio
Les
L
US Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine/Graduate Education, Brooks Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX 78235-5252, USA. les.folio@60mdg.travis.af.mil
Hanson
Eric
E
Chao
Susan
S
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008913:Minority Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States