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. 2023 Jan;62(1):8-16.
doi: 10.1177/00099228221108591. Epub 2022 Jul 7.

Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Associated With SARS-CoV-2 in Mississippi, USA

Bibhuti B Das  1 , Divya Shakti  1 , Stephanie Ghaleb  1 , Jyothsna Akam-Venkata  1 , William B Moskowitz  1 , Onyekachukwu Osakwe  1 , Michael D Weiland  1 , Sandeep Arya  2 , Viswanath Gajula  2 , Mary B Taylor  2
Affiliations

Racial and Ethnic Disparity in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children Associated With SARS-CoV-2 in Mississippi, USA

Bibhuti B Das et al. Clin Pediatr (Phila). 2023 Jan.

Abstract

We aimed to study the disparity in the clinical profile and outcomes of hospitalized Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) patients at our center. The second goal was to examine the temporal association with preceding SARS-CoV-2 infection by race/ethnicity in our community in Mississippi. We found the racial disparity in the prevalence of MIS-C exceeded its temporal association with SARS-CoV-2 infections. We included 51 consecutive MIS-C patients hospitalized, whose median age was 9 (interquartile range [IQR] 5-12) years, 58% were male, 71% were black, 25% were white, and 4% belonged to other groups. We found a delay between onset of symptoms and hospitalization in black patients compared with white patients with a median of 2 (IQR 0-7) vs median of 0 (0-5) urgent care visits (P = .022), respectively. Black patients were hospitalized longer (median 8, IQR 2-39 days) than whites (median 5, IQR 3-14 days), P = .047. A total of 38.9% of blacks and 23.1% of whites were admitted to intensive care unit (P = .498); 36.1% of blacks had severe cardiac involvement vs 23.1% of white patients, P = .531. Future studies of MIS-C are required to improve health equity for children.

Keywords: COVID-19; MIS-C; SARS-CoV-2; racial and ethnic disparity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Differences between black and white children with Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Abbreviations: ALT, alanine transaminase; Cr, creatinine; CRP, C-reactive protein; ESR, erythrocyte sedimentation rate; IL-6, interleukin-6; Pro-BNR, N-terminal pro-brain-type natriuretic peptide; WBC, white blood cells.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Disparity in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) between black and white children: (A) delay in admission to hospital, (B) ICU admission, (C) length of hospitalization, and (D) cardiac dysfunction and coronary abnormality by echocardiogram. Abbreviations: ICU, intensive care unit; LV, left ventricular.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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Supplementary concepts