Table 3

Accuracy of Observer-Recorded Race Values Using Self-Reported Race Values as the Gold Standard* (N = 966,152)

Race
Observed
Self-reported**
Accuracy and Agreement Measures (95% CI)





Yes
No
Sensitivity
Specificity
PPV
NPV
Kappa

Hispanic White
Yes
32,631
10,083
83.0
98.9
76.4
99.3%
0.786

No
6,699
916,739
(82.6 – 83.3)
(98.9 – 98.9)
(76.0 – 76.8)
(99.3 – 99.3)
(0.783 – 0.790)
Hispanic Black
Yes
657
2,663
26.6
99.7
19.8
99.8
0.225

No
1,809
961,023
(24.9 – 28.4)
(99.7 – 99.7)
(18.4 – 21.2)
(99.8 – 99.8)
(0.210 – 0.239)
White
Yes
712,524
22,777
97.6
90.3
96.9
92.3
0.885

No
17,807
213,044
(97.5 – 97.6)
(90.2 – 90.4)
(96.9 – 96.9)
(92.2 – 92.4)
(0.884 – 0.886)
AA
Yes
166,876
10,378
94.0
98.7
94.1
98.6
0.927

No
10,665
778,233
(93.9 – 94.1)
(98.7 – 98.7)
(94.0 – 94.3)
(98.6 – 98.7)
(0.926 – 0.928)
AIAN
Yes
1,100
1,172
31.8
99.9
48.4
99.8
0.382

No
2,359
961,521
(30.3 – 33.4)
(99.9 – 99.9)
(46.3 – 50.5)
(99.7 – 99.8)
(0.366 – 0.398)
API
Yes
4,592
699
35.3
99.9
86.8
99.1
0.498

No
8,433
952,428
(34.4 – 36.1)
(99.9 – 99.9)
(85.8 – 87.7)
(99.1 – 99.1)
(0.489 – 0.506)
Hispanic, Combined
Yes
35,934
10,100
86.0
98.9
78.1
99.4
0.810

No
5,862
914,256
(85.6 – 86.3)
(98.9 – 98.9)
(77.7 – 78.4)
(99.4 – 99.4)
(0.807 – 0.813)
AIAN & API Combined
Yes
5,767
2,146
35.0
99.8
72.9
98.9
0.467

No
10,717
968,132
(34.3 – 35.7)
(99.8 – 99.8)
(71.9 – 73.9)
(98.9 – 98.9)
(0.459 – 0.475)
Non-White, non-AA Combined
Yes
42,923
10,674
73.7
98.8
80.1
98.3
0.753

No
15,357
897,198
(73.3 – 74.0)
(98.8 – 98.9)
(79.7 – 80.4)
(98.3 – 98.3)
(0.750 – 0.756)

* CI indicates confidence interval; PPV, positive predictive value; NPV, negative predictive value; AA, African American; AIAN, American Indian or Alaska Native; API, Asian or Pacific Islander. Veterans with multiracial values, veterans who reported Hispanic ethnicity but no or non-AA minority race, veterans with race values reported by observation or proxy after May 2003 and veterans with missing or unknown race values were excluded.

** In self-reported data, Hispanic ethnicity and White or Black race were used to identify respectively Hispanic White or Hispanic Black in this table. Both Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander in the self-reported data are used to identify Asian or Pacific Islander.

Sohn et al. Population Health Metrics 2006 4:7   doi:10.1186/1478-7954-4-7