Diseases with health disparities as drivers of COVID-19 outcome

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced our society to come face to face with complex issues that were once theoretical but are now being played out in real time. As data from the pandemic accumulates, it is clear that COVID-19 is impacting some parts of society more than others. Unfortunately, there is an almost complete overlap between COVID-19 risk factors and conditions that are already represented as health disparities, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease and immune disorders. In this review, we discuss our current understanding of the physiological and pathophysiological pathways that link these diseases to COVID-19 outcome. An increased awareness of the factors underlying this issue, both societal and medical, is needed to understand the long-term implications and possible solutions needed going forward.