Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37857746›Full record

ArticleJournal of racial and ethnic health disparities2023

The Shift: COVID-19-Associated Deaths are Now Trending Lower Among Blacks and Hispanics Compared to Whites.

Cato T Laurencin, Z Helen Wu, James J Grady, Rong Wu, Marsha M Murray, Michelle Slivinsky

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Article in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

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4 · The record

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PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Cato T LaurencinCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA. laurencin@uchc.edu.
Z Helen WuCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA.
James J GradyCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA.
Rong WuCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA.
Marsha M MurrayCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA.
Michelle SlivinskyCato T. Laurencin Institute for Regenerative Engineering, University of Connecticut, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington, CT, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundThroughout the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, research revealed people of color were more likely to be infected, have severe illness, and die due to the virus. However, some areas in the USA are now reporting a new shift; lower Black and Hispanic COVID-19 mortality rates compared to their White counterparts. Research indicates that this shift is the result of COVID-19's impact on disparities by race. In this paper, we analyze death data to determine if the new shift has occurred locally. Specifically, we examined COVID-19 prevalence and related death data in Connecticut by comparing race/ethnicity through two periods of time: one before and one after the first case of the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

methodsThis cross-sectional epidemiological analysis to examine cases and deaths by racial/ethnic status utilizes Connecticut data from March 2020 to February 2022. The following assumption is applied: expected pre-Omicron cases and deaths from March 5, 2020 to November 27, 2021 are equal to the number of cases and deaths during Omicron cases and deaths from November 28, 2021 to February 17, 2022. Race/ethnicity are operationalized as non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic.

resultsPre-Omicron (March 5, 2020 to November 27, 2021) compared to the monthly aged adjusted COVID-19 case rate for Whites (394/10,000 populations), Blacks had a higher rate (501/10,000 populations), and Hispanics had the highest (585/10,000 populations). During the Omicron period (November 28 to February 17, 2022), significant changes in COVID-19 case rates were observed in all three ethnic groups, but the biggest changes were observed in Hispanics, followed by Blacks, and then Whites. The rate ratios further showed a remarkable reduction of 47% in case rates (from 1.0 pre-Omicron and from 1.47 during Omicron, p < 0.0001) for Hispanics, when compared to that of Whites. While Blacks showed a significant, smaller reduction of 5% in case rates (from 1.27 pre-Omicron and from 1.22 during the Omicron, p < 0.001) when compared to Whites. Regarding COVID-19-related mortality, the racial differences were similar. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: By examining Connecticut's COVID-19 death and case data, this study identified the new shift that occurred locally. The current shift may be anchored in the evolution of the COVID-19 virus, public health guidelines/policies, and the degree to which populations have complied with public health recommendations.

Indexed as

COVID-19Black or African AmericanCross-Sectional StudiesHispanic or LatinoHumansSARS-CoV-2United StatesWhiteCOVID-19Health disparityMortalityPrevalencePublic health

Identifiers

PMID37857746

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.