The association between race and risk of illness and death due to COVID-19: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The Corona Virus Disease, 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic revealed many social disparities that already exist in countries that have social inequalities in their historical context. Studies have already been published on the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of population groups considered to be at risk where they reveal that Black people are at greater risk of becoming ill and dying from this cause. In this context, this protocol describes a systematic review that aims to analyze the association of race as the higher risk for illness and death due to COVID-19. METHODS: This protocol will be developed based on the recommendations of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA-P). For this, we will conduct searches in the PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Lilacs, and ScienceDirect databases in the search for cross-sectional studies. All cross-sectional studies that analyzed hospitalization and death by COVID-19 as race in its determinant will be included. The search will be carried out by 2 independent researchers who will carry out the selection of articles, then the duplicate studies will be removed and screened using the Rayyan QCRI application. To assess the risk of bias, the instrument proposed by Downs and Black will be used. Meta-analyzes and subgroup analyzes will be carried out according to included data conditions. RESULTS: Based on this review, it will be possible to carry out a high-quality synthesis of available evidence that brings race as a factor for illness and death by COVID-19 and to verify which race is most affected by this disease. CONCLUSION: The relevance of this systematic review to the current context is considered, as it has a high potential to assist in the development of public health strategies and policies that address existing racial differences.Record of systematic review CRD42020208767.