Black veterans are twice as likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, compared to white veterans, according to a new study.
Medical records from over a
thousand Veteran Affairs (V.A.) hospitals and clinics, which provide healthcare
to more than 5 million U.S. veterans, were analyzed. Between Feb. 8 and July 22
of this year, researchers found that about 16,000 veterans tested positive for
the coronavirus, and more than 1,000 died.
Among the veterans who were tested
for the coronavirus, 10.2% of Black, 11.4% of Hispanic, and just 4.4% of white
veterans tested positive. Despite the racial gap in positive tests, there
weren’t any differences in the proportion of deaths from COVID-19. The findings were reported in the journal PLoS
Medicine on Sept. 22.
These results were surprising
because the racial disparities in positive test results remained, even after
accounting for things like where the veterans lived and medications they
were taking, said Christopher Rentsch, lead author of the study and an assistant
professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the U.K.
Rentsch’s findings differ from
previous research studies. A report from the Kaiser Family Foundation found that
Black and Hispanic patients were twice as likely as whites — 5.6 vs.
2.3 deaths per 10,000 people — to die from COVID-19, based on data
collected from nearly 400 different hospitals in 21 states. Another study,
from the U.K., also found that minorities had the highest risk of death from
COVID-19, even after accounting for each person’s health issues, including
heart disease and diabetes.
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