Jaehn, Philipp and Rach, Stefan and Bolte, Gabriele and Mikolajczyk, Rafael and Merz, Sibille and Herrera-Espejel, Paula Sofia and Brand, Tilman and Fuehrer, Amand and Berger, Klaus and Teismann, Henning and Bohn, Barbara and Koch-Gallenkamp, Lena and Brenner, Hermann and Klett-Tammen, Carolina J. and Castell, Stefanie and Ebert, Nina and Emmel, Carina and Schmidt, Boerge and Gastell, Sylvia and Schulze, Matthias B. and Obi, Nadia and Harth, Volker and Holleczek, Bernd and Jaskulski, Stefanie and Katzke, Verena and Kaaks, Rudolf and Willich, Stefan N. and Keil, Thomas and Weber, Andrea and Leitzmann, Michael and Wirkner, Kerstin and Meinke-Franze, Claudia and Schipf, Sabine and Schikowski, Tamara and Schneider, Alexandra and Slesinski, S. Claire and Moreno-Velasquez, Ilais and Pischon, Tobias and Holmberg, Christine (2025) What can we learn from an intersectionality-informed description of study participants? Results from the German National Cohort. INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR EQUITY IN HEALTH, 24 (1): 151. ISSN , 1475-9276
Full text not available from this repository. (Request a copy)Abstract
BackgroundIntersectionality has contributed to novel insights in epidemiology. However, participants of epidemiological studies have rarely been characterised from an intersectional perspective. We aimed to show the gained insights of an intersectionality-informed approach to describing a study population by comparing it to a conventional approach.MethodsWe used data of the German National Cohort (NAKO), which recruited 205,415 participants between 2014 and 2019. In the conventional approach, marginal proportions of educational level, cohabitation status, and country of birth were compared between the study populations of the NAKO and the German census survey (MZ) of 2014. In the intersectionality-informed approach, so-called intersectional population strata were constructed by cross-classifying educational level, cohabitation status, and country of birth. Proportions of these strata were also compared between NAKO and MZ. All analyses were stratified by sex and age group.ResultsThe conventional approach showed that the proportion of people with low education was lower in the NAKO compared to the MZ in all sex and age strata. Similarly, proportions of all intersectional population strata with low education were lower in the NAKO. Concerning cohabitation, the conventional approach showed that the proportion of those living without a partner was lower in the NAKO than in the MZ for women under 60 and men. The intersectionality-informed approach revealed that the proportions of some subgroups of those living without a partner were higher in the NAKO than in the MZ. These were intersectional population strata who lived without a partner, had a high level of education and were born in Germany. The intersectionality-informed approach revealed similar within-group heterogeneity for country of birth, showing that not all proportions of foreign-born people were lower in the NAKO compared to the MZ. Proportions of foreign-born with high education who lived with a partner were higher.ConclusionsOur results showed that heterogeneity within social categories can be revealed by applying the concept of intersectionality when comparing study participants with an external population. This way, an intersectionality-informed approach contributes to describing social complexity among study participants more precisely. Furthermore, results can be used to reduce participation barriers in a more targeted way.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | SOCIOECONOMIC-STATUS; HEALTH INTERVIEW; RECRUITMENT; WOMEN; Intersectionality; Social inequality; Cohort study; Study participants |
| Subjects: | 600 Technology > 610 Medical sciences Medicine |
| Divisions: | Medicine > Institut für Epidemiologie und Präventivmedizin |
| Depositing User: | Dr. Gernot Deinzer |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Mar 2026 07:44 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Mar 2026 07:44 |
| URI: | https://pred.uni-regensburg.de/id/eprint/68022 |
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