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[Preprint]. 2020 May 19:2020.05.15.20096552.
doi: 10.1101/2020.05.15.20096552.

The impact of COVID-19 on African American communities in the United States

E Cyrus  1 , R Clarke  2 , D Hadley  3 , Z Bursac  4 , M J Trepka  1 , J G Dévieux  5 , U Bagci  6 , D Furr-Holden  7 , M Coudray  8 , Y Mariano  1 , S Kiplagat  1 , I Noel  9 , G J Ravelo  10 , M Paley  11 , E Wagner  2
Affiliations

The impact of COVID-19 on African American communities in the United States

E Cyrus et al. medRxiv. .

Update in

  • The Impact of COVID-19 on African American Communities in the United States.
    Cyrus E, Clarke R, Hadley D, Bursac Z, Trepka MJ, Dévieux JG, Bagci U, Furr-Holden D, Coudray M, Mariano Y, Kiplagat S, Noel I, Ravelo G, Paley M, Wagner EF. Cyrus E, et al. Health Equity. 2020 Oct 30;4(1):476-483. doi: 10.1089/heq.2020.0030. eCollection 2020. Health Equity. 2020. PMID: 33269331 Free PMC article.

Abstract

Importance: The novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), declared a pandemic in March 2020, may present with disproportionately higher rates in underrepresented racial/ethnic minority populations in the United States, including African American communities who have traditionally been over-represented in negative health outcomes.

Study objective: To understand the impact of the density of African American communities (defined as the percentage of African Americans in a county) on COVID-19 prevalence and death rate within the three most populous counties in each U.S. state and territory (n=152). Design: An ecological study using linear regression was employed for the study.

Setting: The top three most populous counties of each U.S. state and territory were included in analyses for a final sample size of n=152 counties.

Participants: Confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths that were accumulated between January 22, 2020 and April 12, 2020 in each of the three most populous counties in each U.S. state and territory were included.

Main outcome measures: Linear regression was used to determine the association between African American density and COVID-19 prevalence (defined as the percentage of cases for the county population), and death rate (defined as number of deaths per 100,000 population). The models were adjusted for median age and poverty.

Results: There was a direct association between African American density and COVID-19 prevalence; COVID-19 prevalence increased 5% for every 1% increase in county AA density (p<.01). There was also an association between county AA density and COVID-19 deaths, such; the death rate increased 2 per 100,000 for every percentage increase in county AA density (p=.02).

Conclusion: These study findings indicate that communities with a high African American density have been disproportionately burdened with COVID-19. Further study is needed to indicate if this burden is related to environmental factors or individual factors such as types of employment or comorbidities that members of these community have.

Keywords: African American; COVID-19; disparity.

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Figures

Figure 1:
Figure 1:
Timeline of COVID-19 pandemic events to from December 2019 to March 2020
Figure 2:
Figure 2:
Covid-19 prevalence by 152 counties/parishes in the United States January 22 to April 12, 2020 (n=152)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. World Health Organization (WHO). Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak. Emergencies - Dis. 2020. https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/events-a....
    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in the U.S. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html. Published 2020.
    1. Yancy CW. COVID-19 and African Americans. J Am Med Assoc. 2020;60611. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.6548 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dyers O. Covid-19: Black people and other minorities are hardest hit in US. BMJ. 2020;369. - PubMed
    1. Anderson KM. Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity and the Elimination of Health Disparities Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice. National Academies Press; 2012. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK100492/pdf/Bookshelf_NBK100492.pdf.

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