Across each region of the U.S., Hispanic or Latino patients represented the highest cumulative proportion of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, according to the CDC.
In one study published April 12, the agency assessed monthly trends of 298,066 hospitalized COVID-19 patients among racial and ethnic groups in the U.S. from March to December 2020. The data was obtained from the Premier Healthcare Database Special COVID-19 Release, an all-payer, administrative database.
Four study findings:
1. People from racial and ethnic minority groups experience increased risk for COVID-19 infection, hospitalization and death.
2. Racial and ethnic disparities were largest during May to July 2020, becoming less pronounced as the virus spread through the U.S. However, disparities remained in December 2020 across all regions.
3. In every U.S. census region, Hispanic patients represented the highest cumulative proportion of hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The largest disparities in the proportion of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 occurred in April to July, and became less pronounced as hospitalizations increased among White patients. As of December 2020, disparities remained in all regions, most notably among Hispanic patients in the West.
4. The patterns observed are likely driven primarily by differences in exposure risk associated with occupational and housing conditions and socioeconomic status. The declining racial and ethnic disparities observed in late 2020 do not necessarily reflect reduced infection risk or improved outcomes for certain groups, but rather an increased risk for infection and subsequent hospitalization among white patients as COVID-19 spread, reports the CDC.
A second CDC study examined emergency department visit data from 13 states obtained from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program. Of 5,794,050 ED visits from October to December, 282,220 (4.9 percent) were for COVID-19.
Two study findings:
1. Compared with white individuals, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native people experienced 1.7 times the rate, and Black people experienced 1.4 times the rate of emergency department care visits for COVID-19.
2. Racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 ED rates were observed across age groups.