BAME people more likely to die with coronavirus, University of Leicester research suggests

Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people who have coronavirus are more likely to die than white people who test positive for the illness, experts at the University of Leicester have found.

Researchers reviewed 169 records of original clinical data from December 1, 2019, and May 15, 2020, and concluded that BAME individuals were at increased risk of infection, an increased risk of admission to intensive care when they had Covid-19 and were at an increased risk of dying after testing positive for the virus.

The research on the impact of coronavirus in relation to ethnicity, was led by Dr Manish Pareek, Daniel Pan and Shirley Sze and published in the journal EClinical Medicine, is the first of its kind.

Dr Pareek, associate clinical professor in infectious diseases at the University of Leicester, said: “This is the first systematic review to study ethnicity and Covid-19, and it shows that there is a link between ethnicity and an increased risk of infection as well as intensive care admission and mortality.

“Clarifying the role of ethnicity in the current pandemic is of urgent public health importance. Whilst there is insufficient data on the reasons that may contribute to increased risk of Covid-19 morbidity and mortality in ethnic minority groups, existing evidence does indicate a relationship between ethnicity and known risk factors for poor clinical outcomes.

“We know that the vast majority of NHS staff that have died have also been BAME. This review sends an important message to the NHS about protecting its vulnerable staff, and the Government to make this issue a priority.”

Although the exact reasons for the relationship between ethnicity and poor clinical outcomes are not known, existing evidence indicates that they are driven by both biological and socio-economic factors.

The research paper says that cultural, behavioural and socio-economic differences among ethnic groups might influence how the virus spreads in an area – practices such as co-habiting in inter-generational familial units and occupational roles might have contributed to virus spread.

Dr Pareek has also called for the routine reporting of ethnicity data to build a better picture of the current situation.

“Data in the published medical literature on ethnicity in patients with Covid-19 remains limited, and should be addressed through routine reporting of data on ethnicity as part of routine governmental surveillance data, large scale international registries and clinical trials,” he said.

“This will help to inform future public health interventions and further research.”