Neighborhood Key SDOH Drives COVID-19 Racial Health Disparities

By Sarai Rodriguez

May 10, 2022

Neighborhood disadvantages were linked to higher rates of COVID-19 among minority pregnant people, providing insight into how social determinants of health played a role in driving COVID-19 racial health disparities, researchers reported in Obstetrics and Gynecology.

There is an extensive amount of research highlighting the inequities racial minorities faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Hispanic and Black people are nearly three times more likely to be hospitalized and twice as likely to die from COVID-19 than their White counterparts.

These inequities have followed people of color into pregnancy, with Hispanic and Black birthing people being five times more likely to have a positive COVID-19 test result than White patients.

“By now, it is well understood that the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately affected Hispanic and Black communities in the United States, and our study identifies potential factors that contribute to this phenomenon in pregnancy,” Heather H. Burris, MD, MPH, an attending neonatologist with the Division of Neonatology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia said in the press release.

To understand the disparities further—particularly the factors that contribute to them—the researchers decided to take a deep dive into how neighborhood characteristics impacted patient health.

Click here to read the full article: Neighborhood Key SDOH Drives COVID-19 Racial Health Disparities (patientengagementhit.com)