'Increasing concern' over COVID-19 race-related disparities.

Specialists express 'increasing concern' over the fact that people of color and different ethnicities are at a higher risk of poor outcomes if they develop COVID-19. Preexisting diseases, vitamin D levels, or socioeconomic factors do not explain the disparities, they say. Several recent studies and reports from different countries have shown that Black, Asian, and minority ethnic individuals in the United States and Europe are more likely to experience poor outcomes if they contract SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease COVID-19.

Studies suggest that in the U.S., Black people are 3.5 times more likely to die of causes that relate to COVID-19 compared with white people. Latinx individuals are twice as likely to die with COVID-19 than their white counterparts, according to the same data. In the United Kingdom, 34% of critically ill patients hospitalized with COVID-19 were from Black, Asian, and minority ethnic backgrounds. 'There is increasing concern over the higher rate of poor COVID-19 outcomes in BAME [Black, Asian, and minority ethnic] populations. Understanding potential drivers of this relationship is urgently needed to inform public health and research efforts. This...