Differential Privacy Protections in 2020 U.S. Decennial Census Data Do Not Impede Measurement of Racial and Ethnic Disparities.

Census data are vital to health care research but must also protect respondents' confidentiality. The 2020 decennial Census employs a new Differential Privacy framework; this study examines its effect on the accuracy of an important tool for measuring health disparities, the Bayesian Improved Surname and Geocoding (BISG) algorithm, which uses Census Block Group data to estimate race and ethnicity when self-reported data are unavailable. Using self-reported race and ethnicity data as our standard, we compared the accuracy of BISG estimates calculated using the original 2010 Census counts to the accuracy of estimates calculated using 2010 data but with 2020 Differential Privacy in place. The Differential Privacy methodology slightly decreases BISG accuracy for American Indian and Alaska Native people but has little effect for other groups, suggesting that the methodology will not impede health disparities research that employs BISG and similar methods.

Physical Fitness Standards to Support Readiness and Deployability: An Examination of Department of the Air Force Policies and Culture.

To ensure its service members have the requisite physical fitness to serve, the Department of the Air Force (DAF) has established a variety of medical and physical standards. The DAF also recognizes that building a more comprehensive understanding of how different factors influence exercise habits, test preparation, and the perceived importance of fitness is critical to promoting a ready and deployable force. The authors evaluate Air Force (AF) data relevant to the Tier 1 fitness assessment (FA) from all AF-FAs completed by active duty officers and enlisted personnel from fiscal year (FY) 2005 to FY 2018 to examine the fitness of the AF's active component. The Tier 1 FA consists of four components: a 1.5-mile run or 2.0-kilometer walk, designed to measure cardiorespiratory fitness; an abdominal circumference (AC) measurement for body composition; and push-ups and sit-ups, which assess muscular fitness. In this study, the authors explore the relationships between component fitness scores with career and health outcomes and examine airmen's perceptions of current fitness policies and the culture of fitness across the DAF. They conclude by recommending several strategies to improve the rationale for and the validity and acceptance of the AF-FA.