Ethnic minority status as social determinant for COVID-19 infection, hospitalisation, severity, ICU admission and deaths in the early phase of the pandemic: a meta-analysis
Abstract
Introduction Early literature on the COVID-19 pandemic indicated striking ethnic inequalities in SARS-CoV-2-related outcomes. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to describe the presence and magnitude of associations between ethnic groups and COVID-19-related outcomes. Methods PubMed and Embase were searched from December 2019 through September 2020. Studies reporting extractable data (ie, crude numbers, and unadjusted or adjusted risk/ORs) by ethnic group on any of the five studied outcomes: confirmed COVID-19 infection in the general population, hospitalisation among infected patients, and disease severity, intensive care unit (ICU) admission and mortality among hospitalised patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection, were included using standardised electronic data extraction forms. We pooled data from published studies using random-effects meta-analysis. Results 58 studies were included from seven countries in four continents, mostly retrospective cohort studies, covering a total of almost 10 million individuals from the first wave until the summer of 2020. The risk of diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infection was higher in most ethnic minority groups than their White counterparts in North American and Europe with the differences remaining in the US ethnic minorities after adjustment for confounders and explanatory factors. Among people with confirmed infection, African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans were also more likely than White-Americans to be hospitalised with SARS-CoV-2…
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Evidence Hub reads this as a meta-analysis, done in people. Its evidence level is 1 of 5 (Highest · pooled evidence). Pooled evidence from several studies sits at the top of the evidence pyramid. Reported size: 10 participants or records.
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