Observational studyJournal of racial and ethnic health disparities2025
Racial and Ethnic Disparities and the National Burden of COVID-19 on Inpatient Hospitalizations: A Retrospective Study in the United States in the Year 2020.
Observational study in Journal of racial and ethnic health disparities, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- Where Inequities Emerge: Racial and Ethnic Differences Across the COVID-19 Hospitalization Continuum.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Roles of children, isolation measures and socioeconomic status in SARS-CoV-2 household transmission: a retrospective cohort study in a southern US city.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Assessing Usefulness of the Dashboard Instrument to Review Equity (DIRE) Checklist to Evaluate Equity in Public Health Dashboards: Reliability Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- Estimating excess mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic in Aotearoa New Zealand.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSince January 2020, COVID-19 has affected more than 100 million people in the U.S. Previous studies on racial and ethnic disparities related to characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients have been insightful. However, appropriate epidemiologic age-standardization of the disease burden and disparities for hospitalization data are lacking.
objectiveTo identify and describe racial and ethnic disparities for primary COVID-19 hospitalizations in the U.S. in 2020.
methodsIn this nationally representative observational study, we use the National Inpatient Sample to quantify racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 hospitalizations. Descriptive statistics for patient characteristics, common comorbidities, age-standardized hospitalization rates, inpatient complications, and mortality among COVID-19 hospitalizations were contrasted by race and ethnicity.
resultsThere were 1,058,815 primary COVID-19 hospitalizations in 2020. Of those, 47.2% were female, with median age of 66 (IQR, 54, 77). Overall inpatient mortality rate was 11.1%. When compared to White patients, Black, Hispanic, and Native American patients had higher age-standardized hospitalization rate ratios of 2.42 (95% CI 2.40-2.43), 2.26 (2.25-2.28), and 2.51 (2.46-2.56), respectively. Non-White patients had increased age-adjusted rates for procedures and complications. Factors associated with inpatient mortality include age, male sex, Hispanic or Native American race or ethnicity, lower income, Medicaid, heart failure, arrhythmias, coagulopathy, and chronic liver disease.
conclusionsMarginalized populations in the U.S. had over twice the COVID-19 hospitalization rate relative to White patients. Age-adjusted mortality rates were highest for Black, Hispanic, and Native American patients. Careful consideration for vulnerable populations is encouraged during highly communicable respiratory pandemics.
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