COVID-19: Study to examine why people with BAME backgrounds are at higher risk
London:
New projects worth around £ 4.3million have received UK government funding to help explain and mitigate the disproportionately negative impact of COVID-19 and the higher death rate among minorities ethnicities of the country, including those of Indian origin.
Projects supported by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NHRI) include more than £ 2 million for academics at the University of Leicester to study why people of origin Black, Asian and Minority (BAME) are at higher risk. to develop severe COVID-19.
The study titled UK-REACH – UK Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 results in Healthcare workers – will work with over 30,000 clinical and non-clinical staff to assess their risk of deadly coronavirus, based on the analysis of two million health records.
“Overall we have evidence that people from BAME are more likely to go to intensive care and die from COVID-19 – this may also be the case for healthcare workers,” said Dr Manish Pareek , the UK’s chief investigator. REACH study.
The Indian-born Associate Clinical Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester and Honorary Infectious Disease Consultant at Leicester University Hospitals NHS Trust described the research as the first UK study to be conducted on a large scale to determine why BAME healthcare workers may be at higher risk of COVID-19.
“A recent report from PHE (Public Health England) pointed out that 63% of healthcare workers who died from COVID-19 were from BAME. We want this research to improve the lives of healthcare workers – to that end, we have a stakeholder group of large national organizations to research and publicize our findings, ”Pareek said.
There is no exact figure available of healthcare workers who have died from COVID-19 in England.
Data from the UK Bureau for National Statistics shows that after controlling for age and other socio-demographic factors, BAME people are almost twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as whites. This shows that people belonging to ethnic minority groups, especially South Asian and Black and African Caribbean communities, are up to four times more likely to die from COVID-19. However, the reason for this increased risk is not known.
“The diverse range of NIHR and UKRI-funded projects will help examine this association in detail, so that new treatments and care approaches can be developed to target ethnicities most at risk. This research will have incorporated the participation of patients and the public to blacks., Asian ethnic and minority groups at all stages of research, ”said Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer of England and Head of NIHR.
The new set of six projects will explore the impact of the virus specifically on migrant and refugee groups; work with key voices within BAME communities to create targeted digital health messages; introduce a new framework to ensure the representation of people from BAME in clinical trials testing new treatments and vaccines against the novel coronavirus; and create one of the largest COVID-19 cohorts.
“The University of Leicester has led work internationally on the impact of COVID-19 on ethnic minority groups, including the development of a national harm reduction framework for NHS staff and ‘a comprehensive report recommending a range of policy measures to reduce health inequalities. linked to Covid-19, ”said Professor Kamlesh Khunti, an academic of Indian origin who heads the Center for BAME Health in Leicester.
“These studies will help us develop and refine these recommendations with the overall goal of alleviating further disparities in COVID-19 outcomes for ethnic minority health workers,” said Khunti, who had expressed concern at the start. of the coronavirus lockdown over findings from the UK’s National Critical Care Audit and Research Center (ICNARC), which pointed out that up to a third of people with severe coronavirus were from BAME.
Among the new projects, a UK-wide study awarded more than 120,000 pounds to examine why people with BAME outcomes have a higher risk of developing severe COVID-19.
“COVID-19 has had a huge impact on all of our lives, but sadly we have seen black, Asian and minority people being disproportionately affected by this terrible disease. There is an urgent need to better understand the complex reasons behind this, ”said UK Science Minister Amanda Solloway.
UK Health Minister Lord Bethell added: “I am deeply concerned about the disproportionate impact of this horrific virus on some minority communities. We need to find out what is causing it, so that we can stop these deaths.
“These research grants will give UK scientists the resources they need to answer the pressing questions behind these disparities so that we can tackle the root causes and save lives.”
Teams from Oxford and the University of Southampton will examine the health conditions of BAME patients who were treated in hospital and died from COVID-19, using a database of 40 million general practitioner records across England.
Another project will analyze information gathered by the UK Biobank project, which has been monitoring the genetics, mental well-being and physical activity of 500,000 people since 2006 and collecting blood, urine and saliva samples.
(This story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
