Racial Disparities in Mortality and Readmission Among COVID-19 Hospitalized Patients.

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Epidemiology
• Health Disparities

Background:

• COVID-19 has disproportionately affected various racial and ethnic groups.
• Understanding disparities in outcomes like mortality and readmission is crucial for public health.
• Electronic health records offer valuable data for analyzing population health trends.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate racial and ethnic disparities in in-hospital mortality and 30-day readmission among COVID-19 patients.
• To identify specific risk factors contributing to these disparities.
• To inform the development of targeted interventions for vulnerable populations.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study analyzing electronic health records from March 2020 to February 2021.
• Inclusion of 90,490 hospitalized COVID-19 patients across diverse racial and ethnic groups.
• Logistic regression analysis to determine adjusted odds ratios (AOR) for mortality and readmission.

Main Results:

• Hispanic patients showed a higher risk of in-hospital mortality (AOR=1.23) compared to White patients.
• Hispanic patients had a lower likelihood of 30-day readmission (AOR=0.89) than White patients.
• Mortality and readmission models demonstrated good predictive performance (AUCs 0.88 and 0.726, respectively).

Conclusions:

• Significant racial disparities exist in COVID-19 hospitalization outcomes.
• Targeted health management strategies are essential to address the varying risks faced by different racial and ethnic groups.
• Further research is needed to explore the underlying socioeconomic and clinical factors driving these disparities.