COVID-19 and ethnicity: who will research results apply to?

Publication: The Lancet

Treweek S, Forouhi N, Narayan K, Khunti K.

12 June 2020


Summary

The toll of COVID-19 is not equal. Evidence globally shows a greater COVID-19 burden with older age, male sex, obesity, comorbidities, and poverty.

Early data suggest that people from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) groups in the UK and Black, Hispanic, and Native American groups in the USA are disproportionately at risk of severe COVID-19 complications and deaths. A recent systematic review of published, preprint, and grey literature concluded that BAME communities are at increased risk of infection from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 and have more adverse outcomes, including death.

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