COVID-19 research briefs: social factors and co-morbidity may explain apparent higher mortality in Black people

Reference

Price-Haywood EG, Burton J, Fort D, Seoane L. Hospitalization and Mortality among Black Patients and White Patients with Covid-19. N Engl J Med. 2020 May 27. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa2011686. Epub ahead of printdoi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.11102.

Synopsis

Research Brief #32: In this retrospective study from a single Louisiana health care system, the association between race and hospital mortality was determined for 1,382 hospitalized patients from a cohort of 3,481 black/non-Hispanic and white/non-Hispanic COVID-19 positive patients. Of these patients, 70.4% were black/non-Hispanic and 29.6% were white/non-Hispanic. The mortality results were adjusted for age, burden of chronic disease using the Charlson Comorbidity Index, public insurance status, residence in a low-income area, and obesity, factors all associated with increased odds of hospital admission. Three hundred and twenty-six patients died during the study period. Among patients who died, 70.6% were black/non-Hispanic and 29.4% white/non-Hispanic. The unadjusted case-fatality rate was 30.1% for white patients and 21.6% for black patients. Race was not associated with higher mortality (HR 0.89 for black/non-Hispanic vs white/non-Hispanic, 95% CI, 0.68-1.17) when adjusted for the variables noted above and for severity of clinical illness at presentation to the hospital.