Enhancement and validation of an Arab surname database.

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Arab Americans constitute a large, heterogeneous, and quickly growing subpopulation in the United States. Health statistics for this group are difficult to find because US governmental offices do not recognize Arab as separate from white. The development and validation of an Arab- and Chaldean-American name database will enhance research efforts in this population subgroup. METHODS: A previously validated name database was supplemented with newly identified names gathered primarily from vital statistic records and then evaluated using a multistep process. This process included 1) review by 4 Arabic- and Chaldean-speaking reviewers, 2) ethnicity assessment by social media searches, and 3) self-report of ancestry obtained from a telephone survey. RESULTS: Our Arab- and Chaldean-American name algorithm has a positive predictive value of 91 percent and a negative predictive value of 100 percent. CONCLUSIONS: This enhanced name database and algorithm can be used to identify Arab Americans in health statistics data, such as cancer and hospital registries, where they are often coded as white, to determine the extent of health disparities in this population.