Some ethnic minorities and racial groups have a higher chance of dying from coronavirus disease (COVID-19), US researchers said.
A study by researchers at Yale University and the University of Pittsburgh show that the disease has caused more devastating effects particularly in African-American and Latino communities in the US—with figures showing that the former is 3.5 times more likely to die of the disease, and the latter nearly twice as likely to die as white people.
Lead author Cary Gross and co-researchers used the census and state data of these populations to quantify the risk of COVID-19 fatalities among these groups—using age and mortality rates as references.
“When you account for age, our preliminary data analysis suggests that the Latino population faces a significantly higher risk of death from COVID-19,” Gross said.
However, the researcher added that the state data showed varying data, with some statistics suggesting that African-Americans are 18 times more likely to die of the virus, and some data showing that white people are more likely to die of the disease. Gross said this divergent information could be due to the equitable access of some states to better health care, or due to leaders enforcing a more proactive method of testing and implementing social distancing in ethnic minorities.
“We need high-quality data and a consensus on the metrics we use to direct resources and tackle staggering health inequities. Calculating age-adjusted rates in COVID-19 incidence, hospitalizations, and death by race and ethnicity is precisely the right approach,” said Yale’s Marcela Nunez Smith, professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study.
