COVID‐19 Comorbidities predisposes participants from the Jackson Heart Study to disparate Health Outcomes

Powell, Jerbrea; Lee, Dexter

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is a pandemic that is affecting people in all communities. Currently, over 13 million individuals around the world have contracted the disease and over 573,000 individuals have died as a result of the disease. If individuals contract COVID‐19, comorbidities such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes, and obesity make individuals more susceptible to severe illnesses or even death. Nationally, the death rate of COVID‐19 in African Americans is more than twice that of Whites and Latinos. To better understand the devastating effects of COVID‐19 on the African American community, our goal is to examine data from the Jackson Heart Study, which currently investigates risk factors associated with CVD in African Americans, a comorbidity of COVID‐19. The prevalence of hypertension, type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity in participants of the Jackson Heart Study is 62.9%, 18.8%, 32.2%, and 53.3%, respectively. African Americans account for approximately 37.8% of the population in MS; however, they account for approximately 50% of the cases and 51% of the deaths related to COVID‐19. In the Jackson, MS area, African Americans account for 72%, 56%, and 45% of COVID‐19 related deaths in Hinds, Madison and Rankin counties, respectively. In summary, the prevalence of COVID‐19 comorbidities in the participants of the Jackson Heart Study should alert and equip residents and health care workers to help reduce the disparate outcomes of the pandemic in this community. Future studies are needed to determine the physiological, immunological and social interactions.