Race, Ethnicity, and 60-Day Outcomes After Hospitalization With COVID-19.
Sheria G Robinson-Lane, Nadia R Sutton, Heather Chubb and 5 others
PMID 34716006WHAT IT FOUND
After COVID-19 hospital discharge, nonwhite patients accounted for most readmissions, while white patients had the highest death percentage, often after palliative discharge.
Black patients had the longest work-return delays, and nonwhite patients reported worse financial strain.
Key findings
01In 60 days after discharge, 262 patients were rehospitalized, 288 died, and nonwhite patients accounted for more than half of readmissions.
02Some patients could not return to work because of their health (n = 59, 9.8%), and Black patients had the longest average delay (35.5 days).
03Only 6% of survey respondents sought mental health care after discharge, and 17.9% reported no primary care follow-up; more than half of those without follow-up were Black.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was observational, so it cannot show that race caused the outcomes or that any care process changed them. The analyses did not include income or education, so financial and social factors may explain some differences. Race and ethnicity came from medical records, not patient self-report, and 172 patients were other or unknown. Telephone survey response was 42.3%, and people rehospitalized or in extended care may have been under-represented. Participation was voluntary: 38 hospitals participated, and the paper says 41.3% of 92 noncritical access hospitals elected to participate. The paper notes small Asian and Latinx samples (n = 52 and n = 75). The data set did not capture Middle Eastern or North African descent or multiracial options well.
Declared interests
The article is listed as supported by NIH extramural research and non-U.S. government research support. The supplied text does not include an author conflict-of-interest declaration or say whether funders designed or wrote the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that race caused the differences or that discharge education prevented them. The study did not adjust for income or education, used record-based race data with unknown categories, and did not test an intervention.