• Emad Kandil, Abdallah S Attia, Mohanad R Youssef, Mohammad Hussein, Kareem Ibraheem, Mohamed Abdelgawad, Zaid Al-Qurayshi, and Juan Duchesne.
• Department of Surgery, Tulane University School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA.
• Ann. Surg. 2020 Sep 1; 272 (3): e187e190e187-e190.

ObjectivesOur study aims to explore the differential impact of this pandemic on clinical presentations and outcomes in African Americans (AAs) compared to white patients.BackgroundAAs have worse outcomes compared to whites while facing heart diseases, stroke, cancer, asthma, influenza and pneumonia, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS. However, there is no current study to show the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the AA communities.MethodsThis is a retrospective study that included patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 from 2 tertiary centers in New Orleans, LA. Clinical and laboratory data were collected. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with adverse events.ResultsA total of 157 patients were identified. Of these, 134 (77%) were AAs, whereas 23.4% of patients were Whites. Interestingly, AA were younger, with a mean age of 63 ± 13.4 compared to 75.7 ± 23 years in Whites (P < 0.001). Thirty-seven patients presented with no insurance, and 34 of them were AA. SOFA Score was significantly higher in AA (2.57 ± 2.1) compared to White patients (1.69 ± 1.7), P = 0.041. Elevated SOFA score was associated with higher odds for intubation (odds ratio = 1.6, 95% confidence interval = 1.32-1.93, P < 0.001). AA had more prolonged length of hospital stays (11.1 ± 13.4 days vs 7.7 ± 23 days) than in Whites, P = 0.01.ConclusionAAs present with more advanced disease and eventually have worse outcomes from COVID-19 infection. Future studies are warranted for further investigations that should impact the need for providing additional resources to the AA communities.Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

28 keywords...

hide…