Specialists from Queen Mary University in London and one of the largest foundations of the UK National Health Service, Barts Health, conducted a study and found strange differences in the course of COVID-19 in patients from different ethnic groups. The results of scientific work are published in the medical journal BMJ Open.
Scientists analyzed data from 1,737 patients over 16 years of age with confirmed coronavirus infection – all of them were treated from January 1 to May 13, 2020 at one of the hospitals of the Barts Health Foundation. As specified, 538 patients (31 percent) were from Asia, 340 patients (20 percent) were black, another 707 (40 percent) were white.
511 people – 29 percent of the total – died by the 30th day of treatment. It is noted that patients from ethnic minorities were younger. Asians were 1.54 times more likely to be admitted to the intensive care unit and connected to a mechanical ventilator (ventilator) than white patients, and 1.8 times more likely to be dark skinned patients.
The study also found that people of Asian descent were 1.49 times more likely to die than whites, and 1.3 times more likely for blacks. What’s more, Asian and Black patients had a 50 to 80 percent higher risk of being ventilated and in intensive care units than Caucasian patients of the same age.
Dr. Yize Wang, a professor at Queen Mary University and a specialist at the Barts Health Foundation, emphasized that the study revealed an atypical impact of COVID-19 on blacks and people of Asian descent. “Blacks and Asians who were admitted to Barts Health hospitals with COVID-19 were significantly younger, more severely ill, and had a higher mortality rate than whites of the same age and baseline health,” Wang noted. >
The scientists clarified that as part of the study, they examined data from a large number of patients, but could not make a more detailed breakdown by ethnicity.
Earlier it was reported that scientists have found a link between COVID-19 and damage to the vessels of the brain. The coronavirus does not penetrate the brain tissue, but it weakens the walls of the small vessels inside the brain, which can affect bleeding and strokes.