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People of black and Asian descent are at much greater risk of contracting coronavirus than white people, according to a study that highlights the disproportionate impact of the disease on different groups in society.
Blacks are twice as likely to be infected with the coronavirus as whites, and people of Asian descent are one and a half times more likely, researchers found after analyzing 50 studies that reported on medical records closely of 19 million Covid patients.
The review, published in the journal EClinicalMedicine by The Lancet, is the first comprehensive systematic review of published research and preliminary articles that explore the burden of coronavirus on different ethnic groups. About half of the articles were published in peer-reviewed journals and the rest are preliminary results.
Beyond the increased risk of infection, the review suggests that people of Asian descent are more likely to be admitted to intensive care and may have a higher risk of death from coronavirus than whites. But the researchers cautioned that none of the studies of ICU admissions had been peer reviewed and that the increased risk of death was only statistically significant.
Manish Pareek, associate clinical professor of infectious diseases at the University of Leicester, said the combined message from the studies was that the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus on blacks and Asians was due to the higher risk of infection in these communities.