Māori and Pacific People in New Zealand have higher risk of hospitalisation for COVID-19

  1. Nicholas Steyn
  2. Rachelle N. Binny
  3. Kate Hannah
  4. Shaun C. Hendy
  5. Alex James
  6. Audrey Lustig
  7. Kannan Ridings
  8. Michael J. Plank
  9. Andrew Sporle

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Abstract

Aims

We aim to quantify differences in clinical outcomes from COVID-19 infection in Aotearoa New Zealand by ethnicity with a focus on risk of hospitalisation.

Methods

We used data on age, ethnicity, deprivation index, pre-existing health conditions, and clinical outcomes on 1,829 COVID-19 cases reported in New Zealand. We used a logistic regression model to calculate odds ratios for the risk of hospitalisation by ethnicity. We also consider length of hospital stay and risk of fatality.

Results

Māori have 2.50 times greater odds of hospitalisation (95% CI 1.39 – 4.51) than non-Māori, non-Pacific people, after controlling for age and pre-existing conditions. Pacific people have 3 times greater odds (95% CI 1.75 – 5.33).

Conclusions

Structural inequities and systemic racism in the healthcare system mean that Māori and Pacific communities face a much greater health burden from COVID-19. Older people and those with pre-existing health conditions are also at greater risk. This should inform future policy decisions including prioritising groups for vaccination.

Article activity feed

  1. Version published to 10.1101/2020.12.25.20248427v2 on medRxiv
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.12.25.20248427: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    No key resources detected.

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: An explicit section about the limitations of the techniques employed in this study was not found. We encourage authors to address study limitations.

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

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  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.12.25.20248427v1 on medRxiv