Raghav Kanwal, Anand Seerat, Gothwal Anirudh, Singh Pooja, Dasari Arvind, Overman Michael J, Loree Jonathan M
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA.
Advocate Aurora Health Care, Chicago, IL, USA.
Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Jul;108:419-421. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.05.075. Epub 2021 Jun 1.
Although racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare have long been recognized, recent discourse around structural racism will hopefully lead to improved transparency surrounding these issues. Despite the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on racial/ethnic minorities, the extent and reliability of race reporting in COVID research is unclear.
COVID-19 research published in three top medical journals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic was reviewed and assessed for race reporting and proportional representation.
Of the 95 manuscripts that were identified, 56 reporting on 252,262 patients met eligibility. Thirty-five (62.5%) did not report race distribution and 15 (26.7%) did not report ethnicity. There was no difference based on journal (P = 0.87), study sponsor (P = 0.41), whether the study was retrospective or prospective (P = 0.33), or observational vs interventional (P = 0.11). Studies with ≥250 patients were more likely to report on race (OR 4.01, 95% CI: 1.12-14.37, P = 0.027), and North American (USA and Canada) studies were more likely than European studies (OR 7.88, 95% CI: 1.73-37.68, P = 0.006) to report on race. COVID-19 research mirrored USA COVID-19 racial incidence; however, both showed higher distribution of COVID-19 infection among Blacks and a smaller proportion of Whites compared to the USA population. This suggests that research is broadly representing infection rates and that social determinants of health are impacting racial distribution of infection.
Despite increasing awareness of racial disparities and inequity, COVID-19 research during the first wave of the pandemic lacked appropriate racial/ethnicity reporting. However, research mirrored COVID-19 incidence in the USA, with an increased burden of infection among Black individuals.
尽管医疗保健领域的种族/族裔差异早已为人所知，但近期围绕结构性种族主义的讨论有望提高这些问题的透明度。尽管新冠病毒病（COVID-19）对种族/族裔少数群体产生了不成比例的影响，但COVID研究中种族报告的程度和可靠性尚不清楚。
对在COVID-19大流行第一波期间发表于三种顶级医学期刊上的COVID-19研究进行了审查，并评估了种族报告和比例代表性情况。
在确定的95篇手稿中，56篇报告了252,262例患者，符合纳入标准。35篇（62.5%）未报告种族分布，15篇（26.7%）未报告族裔。基于期刊（P = 0.87）、研究资助者（P = 0.41）、研究是回顾性还是前瞻性（P = 0.33）或观察性与干预性（P = 0.11）方面均无差异。患者≥250例的研究更有可能报告种族情况（比值比4.01，95%置信区间：1.12 - 14.37，P = 0.027），北美（美国和加拿大）的研究比欧洲的研究更有可能报告种族情况（比值比7.88，95%置信区间：1.73 - 37.68，P = 0.006）。COVID-19研究反映了美国COVID-19的种族发病率；然而，与美国人口相比，两者均显示黑人中COVID-19感染分布更高，白人比例更小。这表明研究大致反映了感染率，且健康的社会决定因素正在影响感染的种族分布。
尽管人们对种族差异和不平等的认识不断提高，但大流行第一波期间的COVID-19研究缺乏适当的种族/族裔报告。然而，研究反映了美国的COVID-19发病率，黑人个体的感染负担有所增加。
