UofU study: Blacks, Native Americans more likely to have C-19 complications

Blacks and Native Americans with health problems prior to contracting COVID-19 are more likely to have longer hospital stays, require treatment with a ventilator and have a higher risk of death than whites who have similar preexisting conditions, according to a new nationwide study led by University of Utah Health scientists.

The researchers said these results refute the notion that black, indigenous and people of color are at greater risk of COVID-19 complications because they have one or more previous illnesses or diseases.

“Our findings contest arguments that blacks and other racial and ethnic minorities are dying from COVID-19 at higher rates than their white counterparts because they have more comorbidities,” said Fares Qeadan, an assistant professor of biostatistics in the Division of Public Health and lead author of the study. “In fact, when we compared blacks, Native Americans and whites who had the same number of prior conditions, blacks and Native Americans were still at higher risk of dying or being put on a ventilator.”

The study appeared in Scientific Reports.

Specifically, compared with whites, blacks who had similar comorbidity scores had longer hospital stays (1.22 days versus 1.07 days), were more likely to be ventilator dependent (85 percent more when the comorbidity score is low and 23 percent more when the score is high) and were more likely to die (47 percent more when the comorbidity score is low and 13 percent more when the score is high).

The researchers noted that that their study only included patients who sought treatment for COVID-19. As a result, medically underserved and minority populations without health insurance may be underrepresented in this research. Differences in medical record coding within and between healtcare facilities also could have influenced these results.