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BACKGROUND: Race and ethnicity are important drivers of health inequalities worldwide. However, the recording of race/ethnicity in data systems is frequently insufficient, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The aim of this study is to descriptively analyse trends in data completeness in race/color records in hospital admissions and the rates of hospitalizations by various causes for Blacks and Whites individuals. METHODS: We conducted a longitudinal analysis, examining hospital admission data from Brazil's Hospital Information System (SIH) between 2010 and 2022, and analysed trends in reporting completeness and racial inequalities. These hospitalization records were examined based on year, quarter, cause of admission (using International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) codes), and race/color (categorized as Black, White, or missing). We examined the patterns in hospitalization rates and the prevalence of missing data over a period of time. RESULTS: Over the study period, there was a notable improvement in data completeness regarding race/color in hospital admissions in Brazil. The proportion of missing values on race decreased from 34.7% in 2010 to 21.2% in 2020. As data completeness improved, racial inequalities in hospitalization rates became more evident - across several causes, including assaults, tuberculosis, hypertensive diseases, at-risk hospitalizations during pregnancy and motorcycle accidents. CONCLUSIONS: The study highlights the critical role of data quality in identifying and addressing racial health inequalities. Improved data completeness has revealed previously hidden inequalities in health records, emphasizing the need for comprehensive data collection to inform equitable health policies and interventions. Policymakers working in areas where socioeconomic data reporting (including on race and ethnicity) is suboptimal, should address data completeness to fully understand the scale of health inequalities.

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Resumo A saúde da população negra (SPN) pode ser compreendida simultaneamente como campo de estudos, de intervenção social e de domínio cultural. Essa complexa esfera de conhecimento e prática surgiu imbricada com demandas de movimentos sociais e de profissionais, sobretudo de mulheres negras, com a finalidade de enfrentar problemas concretos de saúde pública. Como campo de estudos, ainda é incipiente a produção científica no Brasil. Dado esse contexto, conduzimos esta investigação com o objetivo de demonstrar como tem se estruturado a produção sobre SPN no país nas últimas três décadas. Trata-se de uma revisão sistemática integrativa, que visa a síntese e a análise do conhecimento científico já produzido sobre esse tema. Selecionamos 400 trabalhos publicados entre 1998 e 2020 e analisamos a evolução do volume de produção, seus lócus (estados, instituições, áreas científicas e abrangência territorial), temáticas e metodologias, bem como alguns desses intercruzamentos. Como resultado, encontramos um aumento notório do volume de pesquisas mais recentemente, em um campo interdisciplinar e com maior diversidade temática em relação aos estudos pioneiros. Essa evolução pode apontar um processo de consolidação do campo de estudos sobre saúde e raça no Brasil, ainda que os sinais apresentados sejam ambíguos.

Abstract Black population health (BPH) can be understood, at the same time, as a field of study, of social intervention, and of cultural domain. This complex sphere of knowledge and practice emerged from the demands of social movements, especially those of black women, to face concrete public health problems. As a field of study, scientific production in Brazil is still incipient. Given this context, we conducted this investigation to demonstrate how the production on BPH has been structured in Brazil in the last three decades. This is an integrative systematic review that aims to synthesize and analyze the scientific knowledge already produced on this topic. We selected 400 works among articles, theses, and dissertations published between 1998 and 2020 and analyzed the evolution of the production volume, its locus (states, institutions, scientific areas, and territorial scope of the studies), themes and methodologies, as well as some of these intercrossing. As a result, we found a notable increase in the research volume in recent years, in an interdisciplinary field with wide thematic diversity in relation to pioneer studies. This evolution may point to a process of consolidation of the field of studies on health and race in Brazil, even if the signs presented are ambiguous.

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INTRODUCTION: Mental health inequalities across racial and ethnic groups are large and unjust in many countries, yet these inequalities remain under-researched, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries such as Brazil. This study investigates racial and socioeconomic inequalities in primary healthcare usage, hospitalisation and mortality for mental health disorders in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. METHODS: A cohort of 1.2 million low-income adults from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with linked socioeconomic, demographic, healthcare use and mortality records was cross-sectionally analysed. Poisson regression models were used to investigate associations between self-defined race/colour and primary healthcare (PHC) usage, hospitalisation and mortality due to mental disorders, adjusting for socioeconomic factors. Interactions between race/colour and socioeconomic characteristics (sex, education level, income) explored if black and pardo (mixed race) individuals faced compounded risk of adverse mental health outcomes. RESULTS: There were 272 532 PHC consultations, 10 970 hospitalisations and 259 deaths due to mental disorders between 2010 and 2016. After adjusting for a wide range of socioeconomic factors, the lowest PHC usage rates were observed in black (adjusted rate ratio (ARR): 0.64; 95% CI 0.60 to 0.68; compared with white) and pardo individuals (ARR: 0.87; 95% CI 0.83 to 0.92). Black individuals were more likely to die from mental disorders (ARR: 1.68; 95% CI 1.19 to 2.37; compared with white), as were those with lower educational attainment and household income. In interaction models, being black or pardo conferred additional disadvantage across mental health outcomes. The highest educated black (ARR: 0.56; 95% CI 0.47 to 0.66) and pardo (ARR: 0.75; 95% CI 0.66 to 0.87) individuals had lower rates of PHC usage for mental disorders compared with the least educated white individuals. Black individuals were 3.7 times (ARR: 3.67; 95% CI 1.29 to 10.42) more likely to die from mental disorders compared with white individuals with the same education level. CONCLUSION: In low-income individuals in Rio de Janeiro, racial/colour inequalities in mental health outcomes were large and not fully explainable by socioeconomic status. Black and pardo Brazilians were consistently negatively affected, with lower PHC usage and worse mental health outcomes.

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