Ethnicity and outcomes in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 infection in East London: an observational cohort study | BMJ Open

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/11/1/e042140.full

Ethnicity and outcomes in patients hospitalised with COVID-19 infection in East London: an observational cohort study

Strengths and limitations of this study

• This study is one of the most comprehensive studies exploring COVID-19 outcomes in black, Asian and minority ethnic populations so far reported including evaluation of linked comorbid and socioeconomic risk factors.

• This study was conducted in a single region where COVID-19 has had significant impact and thus not confounded by differences in incidence of COVID-19 disease across the UK, regional concentration of minority ethnic groups and regional differences in the time course of the epidemic.

• In addition, we employed a prespecified statistical analysis plan and performed multiple sensitivity analyses to test the robustness of our findings.

• In line with the vast majority of published COVID-19 analyses, we only included proven COVID-19 cases, therefore, suspected diagnoses should be considered in future studies, particularly those occurring outside of hospitals.

• Despite its size, our study lacked the power to assess a more detailed ethnicity breakdown and like many datasets, may not reflect the vast heterogeneity within ethnic categories (such as Bangladeshi, Pakistani, black African or black Caribbean).