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

Date:
August 17, 2020
Source:
University of Minnesota
Summary:
Adding to mounting evidence of COVID-19's disproportionate impact on
some US communities, a new analysis of hospitalization rates shows
Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaskan Native populations in
the United States are significantly more likely to be hospitalized
due to COVID-19 than whites.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Adding to mounting evidence of COVID-19's disproportionate impact on
some U.S.

communities, a new analysis of hospitalization rates from the University
of Minnesota shows Black, Hispanic, American Indian and Alaskan Native populations in the United States are significantly more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19 than whites.


========================================================================== Published today in JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers from the U of M's Carlson School of Management found significant disparities among racial
and ethnic groups after reviewing nearly 49,000 COVID-19 hospitalizations
over a two-month period in the 12 U.S. states that report such data for hospital patients.

"The unique clinical, financial and social impacts of COVID-19 on racial
and ethnic populations that are often systematically marginalized in our society must be well understood in order to design and establish effective
and equitable infrastructure solutions," said Pinar Karaca-Mandic,
professor and academic director of the Medical Industry Leadership
Institute in the Carlson School, and study's lead author. Soumya Sen,
an associate professor in the Carlson School, is a study co-author.

The study found that, when compared to the populations of each state,
people identified as being:
* African American or Black were hospitalized at higher rates
than those
who were white in all 12 states reporting data, with Ohio
(32% hospitalizations, 13% population), Minnesota (24.9%
hospitalizations, 6.8% population), and Indiana (28.1%
hospitalizations, 9.8% population) having the largest disparities;
* Hispanic were hospitalized at higher rates than those who were
white in
10 of the 11 states reporting this data, with Virginia (36.2%
hospitalizations, 9.6% population), Utah (35.3% hospitalizations,
14.2% population) and Rhode Island (33% hospitalizations, 15.9%
population) with the largest disparities;
* American Indian and/or Alaskan Native were hospitalized at higher
rates
than whites in the eight states reporting data, including in Arizona
where this population accounted for 15.7% of the hospitalizations,
but only 4% of the state's population.

Researchers note the disparities found in other population groups are
largely reversed among Asian communities. In six of the 10 states that
reported data for this group, the proportion of hospitalizations was
lower relative to their population representation. In Massachusetts, for example, individuals who identify as Asian comprise 7% of the population
but only 4% of the COVID-19 hospitalizations.

"Our findings highlight the need for increased data reporting and
consistency within and across all states," said Archelle Georgiou,
M.D., chief health officer at Starkey Hearing Technologies and study
co-author. "The fact that only 12 of 50 states report this type of
information clearly shows there is more to learn about why non-whites are
being hospitalized at such higher rates than whites." While consistent
with previous analyses from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
and others, this study does not adjust for age, sex, comorbidities and socioeconomic factors within each race and ethnic group that are likely
related to COVID-19 hospitalizations.

The data used was extracted from the University of Minnesota COVID-19 Hospitalization Tracking Project, for a period between April 30 and
June 24, 2020. Researchers calculated the percentage of cumulative hospitalizations by race and ethnic categories averaged over the study
period and calculated the difference from the corresponding percentage
of the state's population accounted by each race and ethnic subgroup as reported in the U.S. Census. The 12 states included in the analysis were: Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.


========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Minnesota. Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Pinar Karaca-Mandic, Archelle Georgiou, Soumya Sen. Assessment
of COVID-
19 Hospitalizations by Race/Ethnicity in 12 States. JAMA Internal
Medicine, 2020; DOI: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.3857 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200817150443.htm

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