Amid COVID, potentially avoidable hospitalizations for other conditions fell far more for whites than Blacks

During the first six months of the pandemic, as people attempted to stay away from hospitals caring for those sick with COVID-19, potentially avoidable hospitalizations for non-COVID-19 –related conditions fell far more among white patients than Black patients, according to a new study that looked at admissions to UCLA Health hospitals.The findings indicate that the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated existing racial health care disparities and suggest that during the pandemic, African Americans may have had worse access than whites to outpatient care that could have helped prevent deterioration of their non –COVID-19 health conditions, said Dr. Richard Leuchter, a resident physician at UCLA Health and lead author of the study, published today in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.These hospitalizations — for conditions ranging from diabetes and asthma to hypertension — disproportionately expose African Americans to the financial burdens of missing work and hospital costs, separate them from their families and increase their risk of hospital-acquired infections, the researchers say.“At a time when large-scale community activism has brought attention to systemic racial injustices, it’s important to bring these inequities to light so that action can be taken,” Leuchter said. “While these findings are limited to UCLA Health, these problems represent a systemwide challenge for health care that cannot be addressed through the actions of a single institution...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news