Abstract
BACKGROUND: Black individuals have been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, it remains unclear whether there are any biological factors that predispose Black patients to COVID-19-related morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To compare in-hospital morbidity, mortality, and inflammatory marker levels between Black and White hospitalized COVID-19 patients. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: This single-center retrospective cohort study analyzed data for Black and White patients aged ≥18 years hospitalized with a positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test between March 1, 2020, and August 4, 2020. MAIN MEASURES: The exposure was self-identified race documented in the medical record. The primary outcome of was in-hospital death. Secondary outcomes included intensive care unit admission, hospital morbidities, and inflammatory marker levels. KEY RESULTS: A total of 1,424 Black and White patients were identified. The mean ± SD age was 56.1 ± 17.4 years, and 663 (44.5%) were female. There were 683 (48.0%) Black and 741 (52.0%) White patients. In the univariate analysis, Black patients had longer hospital stays (8.1 ± 10.2 vs. 6.7 ± 8.3 days, p = 0.011) and tended to have higher rates of in-hospital death (11.0% vs. 7.3%), myocardial infarction (6.9% vs. 4.5%), pulmonary embolism (PE; 5.0% vs. 2.3%), and acute kidney injury (AKI; 39.4% vs. 23.1%) than White patients (p <0.05). However, after adjusting for potential confounders, only PE (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.07, 95% CI, 1.13-3.79) and AKI (aOR 2.16, 95% CI, 1.57-2.97) were statistically significantly associated with Black race. In comparison with White patients, Black patients had statistically significantly higher peak plasma D-dimer (standardized β = 0.10), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (standardized β = 0.13), ferritin (standardized β = 0.09), and lactate dehydrogenase (standardized β = 0.11), after adjusting for potential confounders (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Black hospitalized COVID-19 patients had increased risks of developing PE and AKI and higher inflammatory marker levels compared with White patients. This observation may be explained by differences in the prevalence and severity of underlying comorbidities and other unmeasured biologic risk factors between Black and White patients. Future research is needed to investigate the mechanism of these observed differences in outcomes of severe COVID-19 infection in Black versus White patients.