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Many have reported that Black people have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19. Investigators at Ochsner Health System in Louisiana have now analyzed data from 3481 non-Hispanic Black (NHB) and non-Hispanic white (NHW) patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March 1 and April 11, 2020.
The mean age of the patients was 54 years and 60% were female. Despite representing only 31% of the health system's population, NHB patients comprised 70.4% of COVID-19 patients. Among the COVID-19 subgroup, NHB patients were more likely than NHW patients to have preexisting obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease and were more likely to present with fever, cough, or dyspnea. NHB patients were nearly twice as likely to reside in a …