STAT January 30, 2023
Jennifer W. Tsai, Rohan Khazanchi and Emily Laflamme

At every stage of the Covid-19 pandemic, national reporting of racial and ethnic disparities in Covid-19 testing, diagnosis, disease severity, treatment, and vaccination by clinicians, public health organizations, and the media has been marred by frustrating data deficiencies.

How bad has the problem been? Far beyond bad.

In epidemiology research, missing more than 5% of data in a category is significant because, at that level, the missing data can no longer be treated as statistically random, which makes findings gleaned from the analysis become suspect. A whopping 56% of confirmed Covid-19 infections were missing race and ethnicity when first reported in July 2020. In a systematic review published in 2021, researchers had to exclude one-fifth of cross-sectional studies looking at...

Today's Sponsors

Institute for Healthcare Improvement
TripleTree

Today's Sponsor

Zelis

 
Topics: Equity/SDOH, Healthcare System, Patient / Consumer, Provider, Public Health / COVID
Advancing equity in mental and behavioral health: Three ways to begin, according to top health care leaders
How CMS, CVS Health Are Tackling Maternal Health Disparities
Food Security: Key Dimensions of the Social Determinant of Health
‘It’s a universal experience’: Doctor who treats Boston’s homeless population on why community is vital to health
Women And Leadership In Global Health—Where Do We Stand Now?

Share This Article