Effect of Race and Ethnicity on In-Hospital Mortality in Patients with COVID-19.

ObjectiveTo identify differences in short-term outcomes of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) according to various racial/ethnic groups.DesignAnalysis of Cerner de-identified COVID-19 dataset.SettingA total of 62 health care facilities.ParticipantsThe cohort included 49,277 adult COVID-19 patients who were hospitalized from December 1, 2019 to November 13, 2020.Main outcome measuresThe primary outcome of interest was in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome was non-routine discharge (discharge to destinations other than home, such as short-term hospitals or other facilities including intermediate care and skilled nursing homes).MethodsWe compared patients' age, gender, individual components of Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidities, medical complications, use of do-not-resuscitate, use of palliative care, and socioeconomic status between various racial and/or ethnic groups. We further compared the rates of in-hospital mortality and non-routine discharges between various racial and/or ethnic groups.ResultsCompared with White patients, in-hospital mortality was significantly higher among African American (OR 1.5; 95%CI:1.3-1.6, PConclusionsOur study found that, among hospitalized patients with COVID-2019, African American, Hispanic, and Asian or Pacific Islander patients had increased mortality compared with White patients after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, comorbidities, and do-not-resuscitate/palliative care status. Our findings add additional perspective to other recent studies.