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Ethnic-minority groups in England and Wales-factors associated with the size and timing of elevated COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective cohort study linking census and death records

Ayoubkhani, D; Nafilyan, V; White, C; Goldblatt, P; Gaughan, C; Blackwell, L; Rogers, N; ... Diamond, I; + view all (2020) Ethnic-minority groups in England and Wales-factors associated with the size and timing of elevated COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective cohort study linking census and death records. International Journal of Epidemiology , 49 (6) pp. 1951-1962. 10.1093/ije/dyaa208. Green open access

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Abstract

BACKGROUND: We estimated population-level associations between ethnicity and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) mortality using a newly linked census-based data set and investigated how ethnicity-specific mortality risk evolved during the pandemic. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of respondents to the 2011 Census of England and Wales in private households, linked to death registrations and adjusted for emigration (n = 47 872 412). The outcome of interest was death involving COVID-19 between 2 March 2020 and 15 May 2020. We estimated hazard ratios (HRs) for ethnic-minority groups compared with the White population, controlling for individual, household and area characteristics. HRs were estimated on the full outcome period and separately for pre- and post-lockdown periods. RESULTS: In age-adjusted models, people from all ethnic-minority groups were at elevated risk of COVID-19 mortality; the HRs for Black males and females were 3.13 (95% confidence interval: 2.93 to 3.34) and 2.40 (2.20 to 2.61), respectively. However, in fully adjusted models for females, the HRs were close to unity for all ethnic groups except Black [1.29 (1.18 to 1.42)]. For males, the mortality risk remained elevated for the Black [1.76 (1.63 to 1.90)], Bangladeshi/Pakistani [1.35 (1.21 to 1.49)] and Indian [1.30 (1.19 to 1.43)] groups. The HRs decreased after lockdown for all ethnic groups, particularly Black and Bangladeshi/Pakistani females. CONCLUSION: Differences in COVID-19 mortality between ethnic groups were largely attenuated by geographical and socio-demographic factors, though some residual differences remained. Lockdown was associated with reductions in excess mortality risk in ethnic-minority populations, which has implications for a second wave of infection.

Type: Article
Title: Ethnic-minority groups in England and Wales-factors associated with the size and timing of elevated COVID-19 mortality: a retrospective cohort study linking census and death records
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1093/ije/dyaa208
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyaa208
Language: English
Additional information: © 2020 Oxford University Press. This article contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/).
Keywords: COVID-19, coronavirus, ethnicity, BAME, social determinants of health, census, mortality
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Health Informatics
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10122834
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