The relationship between administratively recorded ethnicity and outcomes for people admitted to Australian intensive...

The relationship between ethnicity and mortality of patients critically ill with COVID-19 in Australia has not been described. Defining those communities at the highest risk of severe COVID-19 may assist with formulating effective public health policy and may improve the equitable delivery of health care in Australia.

The aim of this study was to describe the baseline characteristics, treatments, and outcomes of administratively recorded ethnic groups admitted to Australian intensive care units with confirmed COVID-19 infection.

This was a retrospective, multicentre, cohort analysis of adult patients admitted primarily due to COVID-19 to the 78 intensive care units participating in the Short Period Incidence Study of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection Australia from February 2020 to May 2022. The main outcome measure was in-hospital mortality.

Of 4621 eligible patients admitted to intensive care units, the proportion of ethnic groups were White (38%), Middle Eastern (15%), Asian (10%), Other (10%), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (3.3%), Black (1.1%), and Unknown (22%). Rates of vaccination, mechanical ventilation, and admission varied significantly between each group over the course of the pandemic (p < 0.01). However, after adjusting by age, body mass index, Acute Physiology And Chronic Health Evaluation II, the number of coexisting disorders, time from hospital to intensive care admission, vaccination, use of mechanical ventilation and centres, and week of admission as random effects, the only ethnicity independently associated with mortality was the "Other" group (risk difference: 5.27 [confidence interval: 0.54 to 10.01], p = 0.029).

This study demonstrates that the outcomes of patients critically ill with COVID-19 for most ethnic groups were broadly similar, with the exception of the "Other" group who had a higher in-hospital mortality rate.