Will racial health disparities play out in the long-term COVID? These health researchers are trying to find out

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit Black communities in Northeast Ohio particularly hard. research showNow, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are trying to determine whether the prolonged COVID-19 will disproportionately affect black people as well.

“Because minorities often suffer from acute COVID-19, infection leads to higher mortality and more severe disease,” said Grace McComsey, a researcher at University Hospitals (UH) who participated in the NIH study. I know I’m going to get sick,” he said. “We still don’t know how long COVID will last.”

This is an issue close to Yvonka Hall, executive director of the Northeast Ohio Black Health Coalition (NEOBHC). While her organization continues to offer free vaccination clinics and health fairs, Hall said she herself has struggled with the long-term effects of her COVID.

“COVID-19 was like playing ping pong with your body,” Hall said.

The pandemic has hit communities of color particularly hard, as many suffer from underlying conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease and obesity, said Charles, director of MetroHealth’s Inclusion, Diversity and Equity office. Dr. Modlin said.

Many researchers believe that the increased prevalence of these conditions in particular communities is related to social determinants of health such as access to fresh food, good transportation, and a healthy environment. increase.

“Where I practice, I know about food desserts. I know about lack of access to care. Dr. Karla Harwell, Medical Director of Moss Junior Medical Center, said:

McComsey says he wants to better understand how that reality will affect COVID in the long run. She is an investigator in the Researching COVID To Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) study at NIH., the current 17,000 registered nationwide. So far, 1,500 Northeast Ohio residents who have long-standing or have previously had COVID-19 but are currently asymptomatic with COVID-19 have been enrolled in Phase 1, with 35% He is African-American, said McComsey.

The first phase of the study will last four years, and researchers will observe people suffering from long-term COVID and how it is affecting them. Dr. Nora G. Singer, a rheumatologist at MetroHealth, said researchers are now in the process of categorizing long-term COVID patients.

“Then we’re studying how COVID caused these symptoms,” she said.

Enrolling enough minorities in studies is very important to understand how long COVID will affect different people of different races and ethnicities.

“That’s why we’re so focused on enrolling enough African Americans, enough Hispanics, and other groups to make it a truly diverse study,” she said.

Building trust in communities of color is key to creating diverse research, she said.

Pastor Tony Minor, faith-based coordinator of the RECOVER study in Cleveland, said he believes there is an increasing level of trust between the health care system and communities of color and other vulnerable people. rice field.

“The problem is how black and brown patients felt during treatment,” he said. [and] don’t seem to care. ”

McComsey said UH strives to be more visible in communities that typically don’t come to participate in research. The system deployed mobile research units to bring labs to people, she said.

In the clinical phase of the second phase of the study, researchers will evaluate available treatments for COVID in the long term. According to McComsey, only 4-7% of those enrolled in clinical trials are minorities in the United States.

“That’s unacceptable,” said McComsey.

Miner said the first phase of the hiring process has made him optimistic. He said government agencies, churches, pastors and community activists are working hard to recruit people of color for RECOVER. “They’ve done everything they can to get people to respond, which I think is really good,” Minor said.

Partnerships are important, but funding grassroots organizations embedded in communities is critical in persuading people of color to join, said Hall of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for Black Health. .

“We need to do everything we can to make sure equity is around funding, engagement and access,” she said.