School of Health Sciences, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, 48309-4452, USA.
Department of Kinesiology, College of Nursing and Health Innovation, Public Health Program, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, 76013, USA.
J Racial Ethn Health Disparities. 2023 Jun;10(3):1108-1114. doi: 10.1007/s40615-022-01298-3. Epub 2022 Apr 8.
Racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 cases are pervasive. Some minority, immigrant, and marginalized groups, such as Arab Americans, have been excluded from the research. This population confronts barriers to health care, discrimination, and other factors that may affect understanding, testing, and treatment as it relates to COVID-19. Arab Americans are unique compared to Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, and Asians because Arab Americans do not have a specific ethnic identifier and are classified as non-Hispanic white. Given these issues, this study will estimate COVID-19 cases and examine associations among Arab Americans compared to Hispanic, non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Asian adults. Data from the Michigan Disease Surveillance System (March 2020-July 2021), the American Community Survey (2015-2019), and an Arab/Chaldean surname algorithm were used. Chi-square tests were used to determine statistically significant differences between groups. Logistic regression was used to estimate age-adjusted and sex-stratified proportions among Arab Americans compared to non-Hispanic whites before and after adjusting for age and sex. Approximately 17% of Arab Americans tested positive for COVID-19 compared to 11.32% of Hispanics, 9.80% of non-Hispanic blacks, 7.50% of non-Hispanic whites, and 4.24% of Asians. Arab Americans had 2.63 (95% CI: 2.59, 2.66) times greater odds of testing positive for COVID-19 compared to non-Hispanic whites. When Arab Americans were disaggregated from non-Hispanic whites, alarming patterns in COVID-19 cases were observed for Arab Americans. To accurately represent the burden of COVID-19 among Arab Americans, this population needs to have an ethnic identifier that informs appropriate health policy decisions and practice.
新冠疫情病例中存在普遍的种族和族裔差异。一些少数族裔、移民和边缘化群体，如阿拉伯裔美国人，被排除在研究之外。与新冠疫情相关的，这些人群面临着医疗保健障碍、歧视和其他可能影响理解、检测和治疗的因素。与西班牙裔、非西班牙裔黑人以及亚洲人相比，阿拉伯裔美国人是独特的，因为阿拉伯裔美国人没有特定的族裔标识符，被归类为非西班牙裔白人。鉴于这些问题，本研究将估计新冠疫情病例，并检查与西班牙裔、非西班牙裔黑人、非西班牙裔白人和亚洲成年人相比，阿拉伯裔美国人之间的关联。研究数据来自密歇根疾病监测系统（2020 年 3 月至 2021 年 7 月）、美国社区调查（2015 年至 2019 年）和一个阿拉伯/迦勒底姓氏算法。卡方检验用于确定组间的统计学显著差异。逻辑回归用于估计在调整年龄和性别后，与非西班牙裔白人相比，阿拉伯裔美国人在新冠病毒检测呈阳性的年龄调整和性别分层比例。与 11.32%的西班牙裔、9.80%的非西班牙裔黑人、7.50%的非西班牙裔白人以及 4.24%的亚洲人相比，约有 17%的阿拉伯裔美国人新冠病毒检测呈阳性。与非西班牙裔白人相比，阿拉伯裔美国人新冠病毒检测呈阳性的几率高 2.63 倍（95%CI：2.59，2.66）。当阿拉伯裔美国人从非西班牙裔白人中分离出来时，观察到阿拉伯裔美国人新冠疫情病例的惊人模式。为了准确代表阿拉伯裔美国人的新冠疫情负担，该人群需要有一个族裔标识符，以告知适当的卫生政策决策和实践。
