The Ever-Growing Body of Evidence of Racial Disparities in COVID-19 Prevalence

by Clive Riddle, September 18, 2020

Kaiser Family Foundation has released a new study: COVID-19 Racial Disparities in Testing, Infection, Hospitalization, and Death: Analysis of Epic Patient Data, which adds to the evidence of disparities in COVID prevalence.

KFF reports that "the racial disparities in illness and death are not fully explained by differences in underlying sociodemographic characteristics and health conditions, finds the study, which analyzed Epic electronic health record data for roughly 50 million patients from 53 health systems representing 399 hospitals across 21 states." They conclude that "people of color may face increased barriers to testing that contribute to delays in obtaining testing until they are in more serious condition compared to White patients. They also demonstrate that people of color are bearing a disproportionate burden of negative health outcomes related to the COVID-19 pandemic at every stage."

Although testing rates differed little by race and ethnicity, among those tested, Hispanic patients were over two-and-a-half times more likely to have a positive result comparted to White patients, while Black and Asian patients were nearly twice as likely. COVID-19 infection rates among Hispanic and Black patients were over three and two times higher, respectively, compared to the rate for White patients. Hospitalization rates for Hispanic and Black patients with COVID-19 were more than four times and over three times higher, respectively, compared to the rate for White patients. Death rates for both groups were over twice as high as the rate for White patients.

COVID19 Positive Test Results:

• Hispanic: 311 per 1,000 tests
• Black: 219 per 1,000 tests
• Asian: 220 per 1,000 tests
• White:113 per 1,000 test

COVID-19 Infection Rates

• Hispanic: 143 per 10,000 population
• Black: 107 per 10,000 population
• White: 46 per 10,000 population

COVID-19 Hospitalization rates

• Hispanic: 30.4 per 10,000 population
• Black: 24.6 per 10,000 population
• White: 7.4 per 10,000 population

COVID-19 Death Rates

• Hispanic: 5.6 per 10,000 population
• Black: 5.6 per 10,000 population
• White: 2.3 per 10,000 population

KFF reminds us that their analysis, a joint project of the Epic Health Research Network and KFF, builds upon the findings of numerous other studies. In fact, just during the past 30 days, some of these studies have included:

The Color of Coronavirus: Covid-19 Deaths By Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.

APM Research Lab, September 16, 2020

Beyond the Case Count: The Wide-Ranging Disparities of COVID-19 in the United States

The Commonwealth Fund, September 10, 2020

'Enough is enough': Gilead-Morehouse study racial, ethnic disparity in COVID-19

S&P Global Market Intelligence, September 8, 2020

Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Hospital Admissions from COVID-19 and Determining the Impact of Neighborhood Deprivation and Primary Language

medRxiv, September 2, 2020

Community-Level Factors Associated With Racial And Ethnic Disparities In COVID-19 Rates In Massachusetts

Health Affairs, August 27, 2020

Racial Disproportionality in Covid Clinical Trials

New England Journal of Medicine, August 27, 2020

Disparities in Incidence of COVID-19 Among Underrepresented Racial/Ethnic Groups in Counties Identified as Hotspots During June 5–18, 2020

CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, August 21, 2020