We appreciate this opportunity to describe the involvement of Aboriginal communities in the interpretation and dissemination of our research findings.1 We fully agree that relationships with Aboriginal communities are essential for conducting relevant and helpful investigations of the health of First Nations, Inuit and Métis people, and we have taken care to build such relationships in the conduct of our work.
The study on death and renal transplantation among Aboriginal people undergoing dialysis1 was the first in a planned series of investigations that will include community representation and ongoing input from Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal leaders in Alberta and Ontario. These investigations have been approved by the appropriate institutional review boards, and no concerns have been raised about the ethics of the work.
To ensure that our work appropriately addressed the unique situation of Aboriginal people, the final manuscript for this study1 was reviewed in detail by 2 First Nations elders, neither of whom expressed the concerns raised by Smylie.
To strengthen our research team (and provide the unique insights to which Smylie refers), we have established ongoing collaboration with leading Aboriginal researchers. Through their involvement, as well as the collaboration and partnership of members of the Aboriginal communities, we are formulating a plan for dissemination of these research results and will suggest changes to health policy accordingly.
Smylie also raises methodological concerns about our study. As stated in our article,1 the assumptions of the Cox proportional hazards models were tested and met. We agree that the possibility of an interaction between socioeconomic status and race on health outcomes seems plausible. However, as we reported, this hypothesis was tested and was nonsignificant, which suggests that such an interaction did not exist in the population we studied.
Reference
- 1.↵