Disability and COVID-19: Challenges, testing, vaccination, and postponement and avoidance of medical care among minoritized communities.
Haley R Martin, Nan Hu, Qingyun Liu and 15 others
PMID 38071138WHAT IT FOUND
Adults with a disability were more likely to postpone or avoid medical care and report food, housing, medication, and transportation problems.
Disability was not linked to lower COVID vaccination or testing, so access barriers did not show up as vaccine hesitancy.
Key findings
01After adjustment, adults with ACS disability had greater odds of postponing medical care and avoiding healthcare during the pandemic.
02Living with an ACS disability was associated with higher odds of healthcare, housing, food, water, medication, and transportation challenges.
03There were no significant differences in COVID vaccination rates or vaccine hesitancy by ACS disability or employment disability status.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study measured associations at one time point, so it cannot show that disability caused delayed care or worse outcomes. Participants came from a low-income Miami community with many Black and Hispanic adults and HIV-related health concerns, so results may not apply to other disabled people. Disability was self-reported and did not measure severity, and people in congregate living or under guardianship were not included. Testing and vaccination were partly self-reported, and the study did not examine whether these barriers changed after clinical intervention.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest. The work was supported by NIH RADx-UP funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that disability caused delayed care or that vaccine hesitancy explains testing differences. The study is cross-sectional, and vaccination and hesitancy did not differ by disability status.