Walubita Tubanji, Beccia Ariel, Boama-Nyarko Esther, Goulding Melissa, Herbert Carly, Kloppenburg Jessica, Mabry Guadalupe, Masters Grace, McCullers Asli, Forrester Sarah
Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts Medical School, 368 Plantation Street, Worcester, MA 01605 USA.
Curr Epidemiol Rep. 2021;8(2):63-71. doi: 10.1007/s40471-021-00267-4. Epub 2021 Mar 16.
COVID-19 is a major concern for the health and wellbeing of individuals worldwide. As COVID-19 cases and deaths continue to increase in the USA, aging Black and Hispanic populations have emerged as especially at-risk for increased exposure to COVID-19 and susceptibility to severe health outcomes. The current review discusses the weathering hypothesis and the influence of social inequality on the identified health disparities.
Aging minoritized populations have endured structural and social inequality over the lifecourse. Consequently, these populations experience weathering, a process that results in physiological dysregulation due to stress associated with persistent disadvantage. Through weathering and continued inequity, aging minoritized populations have an increased risk of exposure and poor health outcomes from COVID-19.
Current literature and available data suggests that aging minoritized persons experience high rates of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. The current review hypothesizes and supports that observed disparities are the result of inequalities that especially affect Black and Hispanic populations over the lifecourse. Future efforts to address these disparities should emphasize research that supports governments in identifying at-risk groups, providing accessible COVID-19-related information to those groups, and implementing policy that addresses the structural and social inequities that perpetuate current COVID-19 disparities.
新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19）是全球个人健康和福祉的主要关注点。随着美国COVID-19病例和死亡人数持续增加，老龄化的黑人和西班牙裔人群已成为接触COVID-19风险增加以及易出现严重健康后果的高危人群。本综述讨论了累积损伤假说以及社会不平等对已确定的健康差距的影响。
在整个生命历程中，老龄化的少数族裔人群一直承受着结构和社会不平等。因此，这些人群经历累积损伤，这是一个由于与持续不利状况相关的压力而导致生理失调的过程。通过累积损伤和持续的不平等，老龄化的少数族裔人群感染COVID-19以及出现不良健康后果的风险增加。
当前的文献和现有数据表明，老龄化的少数族裔人群COVID-19发病率和死亡率很高。本综述提出并支持这样的假设，即观察到的差距是不平等的结果，这些不平等在整个生命历程中尤其影响黑人和西班牙裔人群。未来为解决这些差距所做的努力应强调开展研究，以支持政府确定高危人群，向这些人群提供可获取的COVID-19相关信息，并实施政策来解决导致当前COVID-19差距长期存在的结构和社会不平等问题。
