ArticleBMC public health2022
Structural racism and COVID-19 response: higher risk of exposure drives disparate COVID-19 deaths among Black and Hispanic/Latinx residents of Illinois, USA.
Article in BMC public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 170 citations in OpenAlex.
- Differential COVID-19 infection rates in children, adults, and elderly: Systematic review and meta-analysis of 38 pre-vaccination national seroprevalence studies.Journal of global health · 2023Pooled it
- After ACL Injury in Children and Adolescents, Where in the Preoperative Timeline do Disparities in Timing and Clinical Course Originate?Clinical orthopaedics and related research · 2026Article
- Community-driven secondary distribution of COVID-19 rapid antigen home tests in high-vulnerability Chicago neighborhoods: a community case study.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Variation in COVID-19 vaccination and adverse outcomes: a state of Georgia case study.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Social Determinants of Health and Risk for Long COVID in the U.S. RECOVER-Adult Cohort.Annals of internal medicine · 2025Observational
- Neighborhood environmental vulnerability factors strongly drove COVID-19 fatality and excess all-cause mortality in New York City, while long-term air pollutant associations were weak and varied.The Science of the total environment · 2025Article
- Racism Counterfactuals in Health Research.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2025Article
- COVID-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Among Black Women in the US.JAMA network open · 2025Article
- Healthcare Access and County-Level COVID-19 Mortality: Exploring the Impact of Hospital Proximity and Uninsurance Rates.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- MICEAL Black and Latinx Perspectives on COVID-19 Vaccination: A Mixed-Methods Examination.Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities · 2024Article
- Indoor allergen exposure and its association to upper respiratory infections and pulmonary outcomes among children with asthma.The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology · 2024Article
- Community utilization of a co-created COVID-19 testing program in a US/Mexico border community.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Continuum of Trauma: Fear and Mistrust of Institutions in Communities of Color During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Culture, medicine and psychiatry · 2024Article
- Making sense of COVID-19: manifestations of health capital during the pandemic.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Racial and Ethnic Identity and Vulnerability to Upper Respiratory Viral Infections Among US Children.The Journal of infectious diseases · 2024Article
- Frame Shift: Focusing on Harm Reduction and Shared Decision Making for People Who Use Drugs Hospitalized With Infections.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
- Evaluating the impact of 'Ask the Specialist Plus': a training program for improving cultural safety and communication in hospital-based healthcare.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Adaptation of the brainwriting premortem technique to inform the co-creation of COVID-19 testing strategies in underserved communities in South San Diego.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Burden of death associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the pandemic in Flint, Michigan (MI), mortality trends over the 2-year period: impact of social and health inequities.Antimicrobial stewardship & healthcare epidemiology : ASHE · 2024Article
- Stress management preferences and stress experiences among Latinx immigrants in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic: Mixed-methods results from a community-academic research team.Global mental health (Cambridge, England) · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundStructural racism has driven and continues to drive policies that create the social, economic, and community factors resulting in residential segregation, lack of access to adequate healthcare, and lack of employment opportunities that would allow economic mobility. This results in overall poorer population health for minoritized people. In 2020, Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities throughout the United States, including the state of Illinois, experienced disproportionately high rates of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Public health officials in Illinois implemented targeted programs at state and local levels to increase intervention access and reduce disparities.
methodsTo quantify how disparities in COVID outcomes evolved through the epidemic, data on SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic tests, COVID-19 cases, and COVID-19 deaths were obtained from the Illinois National Electronic Disease Surveillance System for the period from March 1 to December 31, 2020. Relative risks of COVID-19 cases and deaths were calculated for Black and Hispanic/Latinx vs. White residents, stratified by age group and epidemic interval. Deaths attributable to racial/ethnic disparities in incidence and case fatality were estimated with counterfactual simulations.
resultsDisparities in case and death rates became less drastic after May 2020, but did not disappear, and were more pronounced at younger ages. From March to May of 2020, the risk of a COVID-19 case for Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations was more than twice that of Whites across all age groups. The relative risk of COVID-19 death reached above 10 for Black and Hispanic/Latinx individuals under 50 years of age compared to age-matched Whites in the early epidemic. In all Illinois counties, relative risk of a COVID-19 case was the same or significantly increased for minoritized populations compared to the White population. 79.3 and 86.7% of disparities in deaths among Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations, respectively, were attributable to differences in age-adjusted incidence compared to White populations rather than differences in case fatality ratios.
conclusionsRacial and ethnic disparities in the COVID-19 pandemic are products of society, not biology. Considering age and geography in addition to race/ethnicity can help to identify the structural factors driving poorer outcomes for certain groups. Studies and policies aimed at reducing inequalities in disease exposure may reduce disparities in mortality more than those focused on drivers of case fatality.
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