A Health Affairs study found "excess all-cause mortality" was much higher in Black and Hispanic populations between January 2011 and the beginning of the pandemic in April 2020.
Compared to white people, Black people and Hispanic people saw a large increase in all-cause mortality during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to past years, according to a Health Affairs study released Monday.
The study authors, including Maria Polyakova, assistant professor of medicine at Stanford University, looked at U.S. population data for all-cause mortality by race and ethnicity between January 2011 and April 2020 to better understand "the overall impact of the pandemic than mortality attributable to COVID-19 directly."
The study detailed the excess of deaths per 10,000 people nationwide for the following races and ethnicities during April 2020, compared to the time between January 2011 and April 2020:
- Black people saw an excess of 6.8 deaths per 10,000 people
- Hispanic people saw an excess of 4.3 deaths per 10,000 people
- Asian people saw an excess of 2.7 deaths per 10,000 people
- White people saw an excess of 1.5 deaths per 10,000 people
The study noted that while Michigan and Louisiana saw a similar number of excess mortalities in white people, both states "had markedly different excess Black mortality." Researchers found similar results in Pennsylvania compared to Rhode Island.
While Wisconsin experienced "no significant white excess mortality," the state saw a "significant" amount of Black excess mortality, according to the study.
The study is the latest evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many disparities in healthcare, including those affecting vulnerable populations based on race and age. While hospitals and health systems, organizations, and the Biden administration have pushed to address these in recent months, the study’s authors stated that there is still more work to be done.
"Further work understanding the causes of geographic variation in racial and ethnic disparities—the relevant roles of social and environmental factors relative to comorbidities and of the direct and indirect health effects of the pandemic—is crucial for effective policy making," the study authors wrote.
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Melanie Blackman is a contributing editor for strategy, marketing, and human resources at HealthLeaders, an HCPro brand.