A study has found that Black and Asian patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were more likely to need mechanical ventilation and more likely to die than white patients.
The researchers at Queen Mary University of London and Barts Health National Health Service (NHS) Trust analyzed data from 1,737 patients aged 16 years and over with confirmed COVID-19 who received care in five hospitals in East London between January 1 and May 13, 2020.
According to the research, 511 (29%) died 30 days later.
Compared with white patients, after adjusting for age and sex, Asian patients were 54% more likely to be admitted to intensive care and receive mechanical ventilation, while Black patients were 80% more likely to need the same treatment.
After accounting for age and sex, Asian and Black patients were 49% and 30% more likely to die, respectively, compared with white patients.
These trends persisted in the Asian patients even after the researchers made adjustments for other known risk factors, including smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease.
In Black patients, the general trend remained the same after adjusting for these factors, but the result was no longer statistically significant. The authors suggest this might be due to a smaller sample size of Black patients.
As at Wednesday, the global Coronavirus confirmed cases stood at 104,601,795 with 2,269,164 deaths, while 76,299,873 patients have recovered. There are still 25,888,706 active cases across the globe.
