COVID-19 hospitalization analysis shows disparities across racial and ethnic groups

In addition to increasing evidence that COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting some communities in the United States, a new analysis of hospital admission rates at the University of Minnesota shows that US blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, and Alaska Natives Is COVID-19 than white.

Published today JAMA Internal Medicine, U of M Carlson School of Business Researchers Ethnic group After reviewing about 49,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations over a two-month period in 12 states in the United States reporting such data for hospital patient.

“Unique clinical, financial and social impact of COVID-19 on racial and racial Ethnic population It is important to understand that in order to design and establish effective and equitable infrastructure solutions, there is often systematic marginalization in society. “Said Pinar Karakamandick, professor and academic director of the Carlson School’s Institute of Healthcare Industry Leadership and lead author of the study. .. Soumya Sen, an associate professor at the Carlson School, is a co-author of the study.

The study found that, compared to the population of each state, people were identified as:

• African-Americans or Blacks Report Data in Ohio (32% Hospitalization, 13% Population), Minnesota (24.9% Hospitalization, 6.8% Population), and Indiana (28.1% Hospitalization) Hospitalized at a higher rate than whites in all 12 states, with 9.8% of the population having the greatest disparity.
• Hispanics were hospitalized at a higher rate than were white in 10 of the 11 states reporting this data: Virginia (36.2% hospitalization, 9.6% population), Utah (35.3% hospitalization, 14.2). % Hospitalization), Rhode Island (33% hospitalization), 15.9% of the population) with the largest disparity.
• American Indians and/or Alaska Natives had a higher rate than whites in eight reporting states, including Arizona, where this population accounted for 15.7% of hospitalizations but only 4% of the state’s population. I was hospitalized.

Researchers point out that the disparities seen in other population groups are largely reversed between Asian communities. In 6 of the 10 states reporting data for this group, hospitalization rates were low relative to demographic composition. For example, in Massachusetts, individuals identified as Asian make up 7% of the population, but only 4% of COVID-19 hospitalizations.

“Our findings highlight the need for improved data reporting and consistency across and across states,” said Starkey Hearing Technologies Chief Medical Officer and co-author of the study. Archelle Georgiou said. “The fact that only 12 of the 50 states report this type of information makes it clear that there is a lot more to learn about why non-whites are hospitalized because they are more likely to be hospitalized than whites. is showing.”

Consistent with previous analyzes such as from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, this study found that age, gender, and comorbidities within each racial and ethnic group most likely to be associated with COVID-19 hospitalization. And not adjusting socio-economic factors.

The data used was extracted from the University of Minnesota COVID-19 admissions tracking project from the period April 30 to June 24, 2020. Researchers calculated the percentage of cumulative hospitalizations by average racial and ethnic categories over the study period and calculated the difference from the corresponding percentages of the states population It is described by each racial and ethnic subgroup, as reported by the US Census. The 12 states included in the analysis were Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.