Respiratory Medicine, Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.
UCL Respiratory, University College London, London, United Kingdom.
PLoS One. 2024 Oct 31;19(10):e0312719. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0312719. eCollection 2024.
Ethnicity can influence susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection, hospitalisation and death. Its association with ongoing symptomatic COVID-19 is unclear. We assessed if, among a population followed up after discharge from hospital with COVID-19, adults from Asian, black, mixed and other backgrounds are at increased risk of physical and mental health symptoms.
Adults discharged after hospitalisation with COVID-19 between 03/03/2020 and 27/11/2021 were routinely offered follow-up six to 12 weeks post-discharge and reviewed for ongoing symptomatic COVID-19, as defined by persisting physical symptoms (respiratory symptoms, fatigue, impaired sleep and number of other symptoms), mental health symptoms and inability to return to work if employed. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression analyses were used to compare differences in characteristics, follow-up outcomes and blood tests between ethnic groups. To account for possible selection bias, analyses were adjusted for propensity scores.
986 adults completed follow-up: 202 (20.5%) Asian, 105 (10.6%) black, 18 (1.8%) mixed, 468 (47.5%) white and 111 (11.3%) from other backgrounds. Differences between groups included white adults being older than those from Asian/'other' backgrounds and black adults being more likely from deprived areas than those from Asian/white/'other' backgrounds. After adjusting for these differences, at follow-up, black adults had fewer respiratory (adjusted odds ratio 0.49 (0.25-0.96)) and other symptoms (adjusted count ratio 0.68 (0.34-0.99)) compared to white adults. There were otherwise no significant differences between ethnic groups in terms of physical health, mental health or ability to return to work if employed. These findings were not altered after adjustment for propensity scores.
In our population, despite having more co-morbidities associated with worse outcomes, adults from Asian, black, mixed and other ethnic backgrounds are not more likely to develop ongoing symptomatic COVID-19. However, it is important that healthcare services remain vigilant in ensuring the provision of timely patient-centred care.
种族会影响对 SARS-CoV-2 感染、住院和死亡的易感性。其与持续有症状的 COVID-19 的关系尚不清楚。我们评估了在因 COVID-19 住院后出院的人群中，来自亚洲、黑人、混血儿和其他背景的成年人是否存在身心健康症状的风险增加。
2020 年 3 月 3 日至 2021 年 11 月 27 日期间因 COVID-19 住院并出院的成年人通常在出院后 6 至 12 周内接受随访，并根据持续存在的身体症状（呼吸道症状、疲劳、睡眠障碍和其他症状的数量）、心理健康症状以及如果有工作的话是否无法重返工作岗位来评估持续有症状的 COVID-19。使用描述性统计和多元回归分析比较不同种族群体在特征、随访结果和血液检查方面的差异。为了考虑可能存在的选择偏差，分析结果根据倾向评分进行了调整。
986 名成年人完成了随访：202 名（20.5%）亚洲人、105 名（10.6%）黑人、18 名（1.8%）混血儿、468 名（47.5%）白人以及 111 名（11.3%）来自其他背景。不同组之间的差异包括白人成年人比亚洲/其他背景的成年人年龄更大，以及黑人成年人比亚洲/白人/其他背景的成年人更有可能来自贫困地区。在调整了这些差异后，与白人成年人相比，黑人成年人的呼吸道症状（调整后的优势比 0.49（0.25-0.96））和其他症状（调整后的计数比 0.68（0.34-0.99））较少。在身心健康或如果有工作的话能否重返工作岗位方面，不同种族群体之间没有显著差异。这些发现在校正倾向评分后并未改变。
在我们的人群中，尽管与更差的结局相关的合并症更多，但来自亚洲、黑人、混血儿和其他种族背景的成年人发生持续有症状的 COVID-19 的可能性并没有更高。然而，重要的是，医疗保健服务仍然需要保持警惕，以确保及时提供以患者为中心的护理。
