On the peak of the pandemic, well timed entry to COVID-19 testing was essential for curbing the unfold of the illness and informing remedy selections. Research have unveiled racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 an infection charges, medical outcomes, and entry to remedy and testing.
Nonetheless, till now, there was a niche in analysis particularly analyzing the connection between race, ethnicity, and delayed COVID-19 testing amongst well being care personnel.
Researchers from Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass Common Brigham well being care system, investigated the correlation between delays in COVID-19 testing and varied demographic elements amongst well being care personnel (HCP). Their examine revealed that delayed testing charges have been considerably greater amongst non-Hispanic Black HCP and non-Hispanic HCP of different races in comparison with non-Hispanic white HCP.
The paper is published within the journal JAMA Community Open.
The workforce carried out a cross-sectional evaluation of testing practices amongst 5,541 HCP throughout 15 tutorial medical facilities within the U.S. They checked out information from December 2020 to April 2022. They targeted on the timing of COVID-19 testing, which was categorized as delayed (carried out three days or extra after symptom onset) or early (carried out inside two days of symptom onset). They examined these elements in relation to intercourse, age, race, ethnicity, schooling degree, job classification, comorbid circumstances, vaccination standing and medical health insurance standing.
Whereas there have been no vital testing disparities associated to intercourse or age, the chance of delayed testing was best amongst non-Hispanic black HCP and non-Hispanic HCP of different races. Moreover, delayed testing was extra possible amongst people with out graduate levels.
“Testing delays are vital as a result of they affect an individual’s determination to isolate and may affect the unfold of an infection. In our examine, even when there was ample entry to testing, we nonetheless noticed disparities by race,” says DaMarcus E. Baymon, MD, lead investigator of the examine and Medical Director of the Emergency Division at Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital.
“If the timeliness and significance of testing shouldn’t be acknowledged in HCP, it should proceed to be a barrier that propagates the present racial disparities from the pandemic.”
Peter C. Hou, MD, Emergency Medication, Trauma, Burn, and Crucial Care doctor at Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital, contributed to the examine as senior writer.
Extra data:
DaMarcus E. Baymon et al, Race, Ethnicity, and Delayed Time to COVID-19 Testing Amongst US Well being Care Employees, JAMA Community Open (2024). DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2024.5697
Quotation:
Research reveals racial disparities in COVID-19 testing delays amongst well being care staff (2024, April 25)
retrieved 28 April 2024
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