Racial misidentification of American Indians Alaska Natives in the HIV AIDS reporting systems of five states and one urban health jurisdiction, US, 1984-2002

Objectives. We examined racial misidentification of American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) reported to the human immunodeficiency virus (HM/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) Reporting Systems (HARS) of five U.S. states and one county. Methods. To identify AI/AN records with misidentified race, we linked HAIRS data from 1984 through 2002 to the Indian Health Service National Patient Information and Reporting System (NPIRS), excluding non-AI/AN dependents, using probabilistic matching with clerical review. We used chi-square tests to examine differences in proportions and logistic regression to examine the associations of racial misidentification with HAIRS site, degree of AI/AN ancestry, mode of exposure to HIV, and urban or rural location of residence at time of diagnosis. Results. A total of 1,523 AI/AN individuals was found in both NPIRS and HARS; race was misidentified in HAIRS for 459 (30%). The percentages of racially misidentified ranged from 3.7% (in Alaska) to 55% (in California). AI/AN people were misidentified as white (70%), Hispanic (16%), black (11%), and Asian/Pacific Islander (2%); for 0.9%, race was unspecified. Logistic regression results (data from all areas, all variables) indicated that urban residence at time of diagnosis, degree of AI/AN ancestry, and mode of exposure to HIV were significantly associated with racial misidentification of AI/AN people reported to HAIRS. Conclusions. Our findings add to the evidence that racial misidentification of AI/AN in surveillance data can result in underestimation of AI/AN HIV/AIDS case counts. Racial misidentification must be addressed to ensure that HIV/AIDS surveillance data can be used as the basis for equitable resource allocation decisions, and to inform and mobilize public health action.