AUTHOR=Althouse Benjamin M. , Baker Charlotte , Smits Peter D. , Gratzl Samuel , Lee Ryan H. , Goodwin Cartwright Brianna M. , Simonov Michael , Wang Michael D. , Stucky Nicholas L. 

TITLE=Racial inequality in COVID-treatment and in-hospital length of stay in the US over time

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 10 - 2022

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1074775

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2022.1074775

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Introduction: Demonstrated health inequalities persist in the United States. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID) has been no exception, with access to treatment and hospitalization differing across race or ethnic group. Here we aim to assess differences in treatment with remdesivir and hospital length of stay across four waves of the pandemic.
Materials and Methods: Using a subset of the Truveta data we examine odds ratios (OR) of in-hospital remdesivir treatment and risk ratios (RR) of in-hospital length of stay between Black or African American (Black) to white patients. We adjusted for confounding factors such as age, sex, and comorbidity status.
Results: There were statically significant lower rates of remdesivir treatment and longer in-hospital lengths of stay comparing Black patients to white patients early in the pandemic (OR for treatment: 0.88, 95\% confidence interval [CI]: 0.80, 0.96; RR for length of stay: 1.17, CI: 1.06, 1.21). Rates became close to parity between groups as the pandemic progressed.
Conclusions: While inpatient remdesivir treatment rates increased and length of stay decreased over the beginning course of the pandemic, there are still inequalities in patient care.