‘Ethnicity not reason’ for higher mortality rate in BAME patients
PEOPLE from BAME backgrounds are up to twice as likely to die from coronavirus, an official report has suggested, as a government public health advisor said the disparity might not necessarily be linked to ethnicity.
Researchers found that people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death compare with people of white British ethnicity, while people of Chinese, Indian, Pakistani, other Asian, Caribbean and black ethnicity had between 10% and 50% higher risk of death.
Prof John Newton last night urged people not to jump to conclusions about the report and said more work is needed to understand why the differences between white and BAME communities existed.
“It is not necessarily because of their ethnicity, it may be related to their occupation or other reasons why they might be at higher levels of exposure,” he told the Downing Street press conference.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer criticised the report and said: “No mention of structural inequalities. No recommendations. No answers. No action.
“Coronavirus thrives on inequality. Inequality thrives on inaction. The Government must act now to protect BAME communities.”
Asked whether he plans to publish recommendations, Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, said: “Absolutely, we need to go through the next stage of work to make sure that we account for all of the different considerations.”
Prof Newton said: “There are recommendations, but they’re perhaps more to do with the fact that these are important data for people to be aware of. Even understanding the levels of risk associated with different factors is itself important in designing programmes to protect people.”
He added: “Normally a report like this would take us a good six months, so we have actually produced this level of analysis in a relatively short time.
“We need to get the report widely disseminated and discussed before deciding exactly what needs to be done.”
The Public Health England report said that “the impact of Covid-19 has replicated existing health inequalities and, in some cases, has increased them”.
It found that the highest death rates of confirmed cases per 100,000 population were among people in “other” ethnic groups (234 females and 427 males), followed by people of black ethnic groups (119 females and 257 males) and Asian ethnic groups (78 females and 163 males). In comparison, the death rates per 100,000 people for confirmed cases in white people was 36 for females and 70 for males.
However researchers suggested the relationship between ethnicity and health is complex and likely to be the result of a combination of factors – including that BAME communities are likely to be at increased risk of acquiring the infection because they are more likely to live in urban areas, in overcrowded households, in deprived areas, and have jobs that expose them to higher risk.
Following an analysis of more than 10,000 patients with Covid-19 admitted to intensive care in UK hospitals, researchers said that the evidence “suggests that, once age, sex, obesity and co-morbidities are taken into account, there is no difference in the likelihood of being admitted to intensive care or of dying between ethnic groups”.
The report was released following allegations that the Department for Health and Social Care was delaying its publication due to concerns of potential civil unrest linked to global anger over the death of African-american George Floyd.
Helen Barnard, acting director of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, described the findings as “shocking, but not surprising”.
“BAME communities and areas of high deprivation are at much greater risk from coronavirus,” she said. “This just isn’t right: someone’s life chances should not be so profoundly affected by the colour of their skin, where they live, or how much money a family has.”
The highest diagnosis rate per 100,000 population was in black ethnic groups (486 in females and 649 in males) while the lowest was in white ethnic groups (220 in females and 224 in males).
649 The number of black males diagnosed with coronavirus per 100,000 people – the highest diagnosis rate for an ethnic group