According to Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, which funded the study, “This study provides further evidence that COVID-19 disproportionately affects people from minority ethnic backgrounds where they live, as has been observed around the world.”
“It has been complex to address why the coronavirus affects people from ethnic minorities more severely and how to mitigate this effect,” he continues.
“People of Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds more frequently have heart and circulatory risk factors, such as hypertension and diabetes, and are more exposed to socioeconomic disadvantages, but this study indicates that the worst effects of COVID-19 persist even after taking these factors into account.
It is now necessary to investigate how other structural and behavioral factors may contribute, including occupation, access to health information and care, and differences in patient experience once they arrive at the hospital. Given the renewed surge in COVID-19 cases in the UK, we must address these inequalities urgently.
– Dra. Sonya Babu-Narayan
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