Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19 by Race and Ethnicity — 13 States, October–December 2020

Details

• Personal Author:
  Smith, Amanda R. ; DeVies, Jourdan ; Caruso, Elise ; Radhakrishnan, Lakshmi ; Sheppard, Michael ; Stein, Zachary ; Calanan, Renee M. ; Hartnett, Kathleen P. ; Kite-Powell, Aaron ; Rodgers, Loren ; Adjemian, Jennifer
• Corporate Authors:
  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (U.S.)Epidemic Intelligence Service. ; CDC COVID-19 Response Team. ; Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (U.S.)Division of Health Informatics and Surveillance. ; National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (U.S.)Office of the Director.
• Description:
  What is already known about this topic? Hispanic, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Black persons have higher rates of hospitalization and death attributable to COVID-19 than do White persons.
  
  What is added by this report? Data from 13 states indicate that compared with White persons, Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Native persons experienced 1.7 times the rate, and Black persons experienced 1.4 times the rate of emergency department care visits for COVID-19 during October–December 2020.
  
  What are the implications for public health practice? Emergency department COVID-19 visit data can provide insight into ongoing areas of racial/ethnic inequity in health status and disease outcomes and can be used to prioritize Prevention resources, including COVID-19 vaccination, to reach disproportionately affected groups.
  
  Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic), non-Hispanic Black or African American (Black), and non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native (AI/AN) persons have experienced disproportionately higher rates of hospitalization and death attributable to COVID-19 than have non-Hispanic White (White) persons (1–4). Emergency care data offer insight into COVID-19 incidence; however, differences in use of emergency department (ED) services for COVID-19 by racial and ethnic groups are not well understood. These data, most of which are recorded within 24 hours of the visit, might be an early indicator of changing patterns in disparities. Using ED visit data from 13 states obtained from the National Syndromic Surveillance Program (U.S.) (NSSP), CDC assessed the number of ED visits with a COVID-19 discharge Diagnosis code per 100,000 population during October–December 2020 by age and race/ethnicity. Among 5,794,050 total ED visits during this period, 282,220 (4.9%) were for COVID-19. Racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 ED visit rates were observed across age groups. Compared with White persons, Hispanic, AI/AN, and Black persons had significantly more COVID-19–related ED visits overall (rate ratio [RR] range = 1.39–1.77) and in all age groups through age 74 years; compared with White persons aged ≥75 years, Hispanic and AI/AN persons also had more COVID-19–related ED visits (RR = 1.91 and 1.22, respectively). These differences in ED visit rates suggest ongoing racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 incidence and can be used to prioritize Prevention resources, including COVID-19 vaccination, to reach disproportionately affected communities and reduce the need for emergency care for COVID-19.
  
  Suggested citation for this article: Smith AR, DeVies J, Caruso E, et al. Emergency Department Visits for COVID-19 by Race and Ethnicity — 13 States, October–December 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. ePub: 12 April 2021.
  
  mm7015e3.htm?s_cid=mm7015e3_w
  
  mm7015e3-H.pdf
  
  
• Subjects:
  Alaska Natives BetacoronaVirus Black Or African American Comorbidity CoronaVirus Infections COVID-19 Racial And Ethnic Disparities COVID-19/ethnology COVID-19/mortality CronaVirus Infections Ethnicity Healthcare Disparities Health Status Disparities Hospitalization Hospital Mortality/Ethnology Indians, North American Minority Groups Pandemics Pneumonia, Viral/Ethnology Pneumonia, Viral/Mortality Racial Groups Retrospective Studies SARS-CoV-2 Socioeconomic Factors White

  More +
• Source:
  MMWR: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 2021; v. 70 Early Release
• Series:
  Weekly Report: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• ISSN:
  0149-2195 (print) ; 1545-861X (digital)
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Pages in Document:
  4 pdf pages
• Volume:
  70
• Collection(s):
  Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR)
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:c67a54245218aa6c905ceaa36514c92db963156f2427ed3eca47a3f06c275531cb6aba8469596664ba1e5d5a30d33e8f087dd6a927a0559bb34dbb7192642a6b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/105036/cdc_105036_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 123.29 KB ]