The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), which was first discovered in Wuhan, China, in 2019, is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Since the spread of the virus, it has been well documented that the mortality risk for Blacks who contract COVID-19 is higher than other ethnic groups. A study led by University of Delaware scientist Dr. Laurens Holmes, Jr. published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, concluded that 34% of deaths due to COVID-19 were among non-Hispanic Blacks, although this parameter of the population represents 13% of the total U.S. population.
There are many factors for this. However, of singular importance, it pertains to the rates of comorbidity based on lifestyle choices that make Blacks report higher proportions of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality when compared to other racial-ethnic groups.
A recent study published in Diabetes Care (2021;44:188–193) based, on data collected from 287 patients with COVID-19 hospitalized at two hospitals in New Orleans, LA, from March 30-April 5, 2020, concluded that hypertension, obesity, and diabetes had increased rates of mortality compared with Black patients without the comorbidities. Of the 326 patients who died from COVID-19 included in their study, overall, 70.6% were Black.
Similar findings have just been reported by the Los Angeles Department of Public Health. L.A. County public health officials indicate that data shows that high blood pressure was the most common comorbidity observed in 52% of COVID-related deaths, with an additional 41% of decedents having had diabetes.
Research reveals that across the United States, African American women have the highest rates of obesity with around four out of five African American women being overweight or obese. Blacks are more than two times more likely to be obese as compared to Whites, with Black women being 50 percent more likely to be obese than White women. Thus, obesity is a serious chronic disease that puts Blacks at an elevated risk for other chronic diseases and increases the likelihood of more severe outcomes from COVID-19, especially mortality.
A study of COVID-19 cases published in March 2021 suggests that risks of “hospitalization, intensive care unit admission, invasive mechanical ventilation and death, are higher with increasing body mass index (BMI).
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