Outcomes of COVID-19: Disparities by ethnicity

Ali, Hamad; Alshukry, Abdullah; Marafie, Sulaiman K.; AlRukhayes, Monera; Ali, Yaseen; Abbas, Mohammad Bu; Al-Taweel, Abdullah; Bukhamseen, Yousef; Dashti, Mohammad H.; Al-Shammari, Abdullah; Abu-Farha, Mohammad; AbuBaker, Jehad; Al-Mulla, Fahd

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the role of ethnicity in COVID-19 outcome disparities in a cohort in Kuwait. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of 405 individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 in Kuwait. Outcomes such as symptoms severity and mortality were considered. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to report the odds ratios (OR) for ICU admission and dying from COVID-19. RESULTS: The cohort included 290 Arabs and 115 South Asians. South Asians recorded significantly higher COVID-19 death rates compared to Arabs (33% vs. 7.6%, P value<0.001). When compared to Arabs, South Asians also had higher odds of being admitted to the ICU (OR = 6.28, 95% CI: 3.34–11.80, p < 0.001). South Asian patients showed 7.62 (95% CI: 3.62–16.02, p < 0.001) times the odds of dying from COVID-19. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 patients with South Asians ethnicity are more likely to have worse prognosis and outcome when compared to patients with Arab ethnicity. This suggest a possible role for ethnicity in COVID-19 outcome disparities and this role is likely to be multifactorial.