Citation
Thompson, Caroline A.; Boothroyd, Derek B.; Hastings, Katherine G.; Cullen, Mark R.; Palaniappan, Latha P.; & Rehkopf, David H. (2018). A Multiple-Imputation "Forward Bridging" Approach to Address Changes in the Classification of Asian Race/Ethnicity on the US Death Certificate. American Journal of Epidemiology, 187(2), 347-357. PMCID: PMC5860289Abstract
The incomparability of old and new classification systems for describing the same data can be seen as a missing-data problem, and, under certain assumptions, multiple imputation may be used to "bridge" 2 classification systems. One example of such a change is the introduction of detailed Asian-American race/ethnicity classifications on the 2003 version of the US national death certificate, which was adopted for use by 38 states between 2003 and 2011. Using county- and decedent-level data from 3 different national sources for pre- and postadoption years, we fitted within-state multiple-imputation models to impute ethnicities for decedents classified as "other Asian" during preadoption years. We present mortality rates derived using 3 different methods of calculation: 1) including all states but ignoring the gradual adoption of the new death certificate over time, 2) including only the 7 states with complete reporting of all ethnicities, and 3) including all states and applying multiple imputation. Estimates from our imputation model were consistently in the middle of the other 2 estimates, and trend results demonstrated that the year-by-year estimates of the imputation model were more similar to those of the 7-state model. This work demonstrates how multiple imputation can provide a "forward bridging" approach to make more accurate estimates over time in newly categorized populations.URL
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aje/kwx215Reference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2018Journal Title
American Journal of EpidemiologyAuthor(s)
Thompson, Caroline A.Boothroyd, Derek B.
Hastings, Katherine G.
Cullen, Mark R.
Palaniappan, Latha P.
Rehkopf, David H.