November 2002 - Spotlight report

Heart disease in minority ethnic groups: getting the most from routine information sources - research project, Scotland

A new research project funded by the Scottish Executive in association with the Public Health Institute of Scotland (PHIS) aims to assess the potential of routine health data to provide information about coronary heart disease in minority ethnic groups in Scotland. South Asians in particular are at high risk of coronary heart disease, but within the health service the collection of data on ethnicity is patchy and incomplete. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh, the Ethnic Minority Resource Centre at PHIS and the Information and Statistics Division (ISD) will review currently available information sources. A number of possible approaches to extracting information will be explored, including the use of name search software. In the long term new means of collecting ethnic data need to be developed, probably based around registration in primary care, but this project aims to fill the gap until these new systems are developed.

For more information visit: www.phis.org.uk or contact Dr Colin Fischbacher at Public Health Sciences, University of Edinburgh, email Colin.Fischbacher@ed.ac.uk.