Association between racial discrimination and delayed or forgone care amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prev Med
; 162: 107153, 2022 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1915101
ABSTRACT
Racial discrimination has intensified in the U.S. during the COVID-19 pandemic, but how it disrupted healthcare is largely unknown. This study investigates the association of racial discrimination with delaying or forgoing care during the pandemic based on data from a nationally representative survey, the Health, Ethnicity and Pandemic (HEAP) study (n = 2552) conducted in October 2020 with Asians, Hispanics and non-Hispanic Blacks oversampled. Racial discrimination during the pandemic was assessed in three domains experienced racial discrimination, race-related cyberbullying, and Coronavirus racial bias beliefs. Respondents answered whether they had delayed or forgone any type of healthcare due to the pandemic. Overall, 63.7% of respondents reported delaying or forgoing any healthcare during the pandemic. About 20.3% East/Southeast Asians, 18.6% non-Hispanic Blacks and 15.9% Hispanics reported experiences of racial discrimination, compared with 2.8% of non-Hispanic Whites. Experienced racial discrimination was associated with delaying/forgoing care among non-Hispanic Blacks (Adjusted odds ratios[AOR] = 4.58, 95% confidence interval[CI] 2.22-9.45), Hispanics (AOR = 3.88, 95%CI 1.51-9.98), and East/Southeast Asians (AOR = 2.14, 95%CI 1.22-3.77). Experiencing race-related cyberbullying was significantly associated with delaying/forgoing care among non-Hispanic Blacks (AOR = 1.34, 95%CI 1.02-1.77) and East/Southeast Asians (AOR = 1.51, 95%CI 1.19-1.90). Coronavirus racial bias was significantly associated with delaying/forgoing care among East/Southeast Asians (AOR = 1.55, 95%CI 1.16-2.07). The three domains of racial discrimination were consistently associated with delayed or forgone health care among East/Southeast Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic; some of the associations were also seen among non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics. These results demonstrate that addressing racism is important for reducing disparities in healthcare delivery during the pandemic and beyond.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Racism
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Qualitative research
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
Prev Med
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.ypmed.2022.107153
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