Race and ethnicity as risk factors for colonization and infection with key bacterial pathogens: a scoping review.

Background: Racial and ethnic disparities in infectious disease burden have been reported in the USA and globally, most recently for COVID-19. It remains unclear whether such disparities also exist for priority bacterial pathogens that are increasingly antibiotic-resistant. We conducted a scoping review to summarize published studies that report on colonization or community-acquired infection with pathogens among different races and ethnicities. Methods: We conducted an electronic literature search of MEDLINE®, Daily, Global Health, Embase, Cochrane Central, and Web of Science from inception to January 2022 for eligible observational studies. Abstracts and full-text publications were screened in duplicate for studies that reported data for race or ethnicity for at least one of the pathogens of interest. Results: Fifty-four observational studies in 59 publications met our inclusion criteria. Studies reported results for Enterobacterales, Enterococcus faecium, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, and were conducted in Australia, Brazil, Israel, New Zealand, and USA. USA studies most often examined Black and Hispanic minority groups with studies regularly reporting a higher risk of these pathogens in Black persons and mixed results for Hispanic persons. Ethnic minority groups (e.g. Bedouins in Israel, Aboriginals in Australia) were often reported to be at a higher risk in other countries. Conclusion: Sufficient evidence was identified in this scoping review justifying future systematic reviews and meta-analyses evaluating the relationship between community-acquired pathogens and race and ethnicity. However, we noted that only a fraction of studies reported data stratified by race and ethnicity, highlighting a substantial gap in the literature.

Socioeconomic status and the risk for colonization or infection with priority bacterial pathogens: a global evidence map.

Low socioeconomic status (SES) is thought to exacerbate risks for bacterial infections, but global evidence for this relationship has not been synthesized. We systematically reviewed the literature for studies describing participants' SES and their risk of colonization or community-acquired infection with priority bacterial pathogens. Fifty studies from 14 countries reported outcomes by participants' education, healthcare access, income, residential crowding, SES deprivation score, urbanicity, or sanitation access. Low educational attainment, lower than average income levels, lack of healthcare access, residential crowding, and high deprivation were generally associated with higher risks of colonization or infection. There is limited research on these outcomes in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and conflicting findings regarding the effects of urbanicity. Only a fraction of studies investigating pathogen colonization and infection reported data stratified by participants' SES. Future studies should report stratified data to improve understanding of the complex interplay between SES and health, especially in LMICs.