- Review will analyse how different factors – including
ethnicity, gender and obesity – can impact on people’s
health outcomes from COVID-19
- Available data on health outcomes for NHS staff to be
analysed, to develop a better understanding of how the virus
affects frontline workforce
Thousands of existing health records for people who have had
COVID-19 are to be examined as part of a major exercise to
establish more robust data on the factors impacting the
number of cases and health outcomes for different groups
within the population.
The exercise is part of a rapid review being led by Public
Health England (PHE) to better understand how
different factors such as ethnicity, deprivation, age, gender
and obesity could impact on how people are affected
by COVID-19.
The review will also look at vulnerable groups such as people
experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping to understand
how the virus affects them and their health outcomes.
Where PHE has access to the
occupation of cases, particularly related to health workers,
analysis will be done on the outcome of infections for this
group*.
Health and Social Care Secretary, said:
Every death from this virus is a tragedy and behind each
statistic is a name, a loved one and a family that will
never be the same again.
As part of our continued effort to reduce health
inequalities, we have commissioned Public Health England to
consider various factors such as obesity, ethnicity, age,
gender and geographical location, and how these may have an
impact on someone’s susceptibility to the virus, including
our brilliant key workers and frontline NHS and social care
staff.
It’s an extremely important and hugely complex task,
but we owe it to the nation to find out how this virus may
affect different groups in different ways, to protect lives
and limit the spread of the disease.
The review will help provide insight into emerging evidence
to suggest COVID-19 may be having a disproportionate impact
on different groups and examine the potential effects of
other factors such as ethnicity, level of obesity or gender.
The review will also match laboratory records
of COVID-19 cases to existing health records to draw down
accurate data such as ethnicity and describe the
association with COVID-19 cases, alongside other factors such
as sex, age and geographical location.
Professor Kevin Fenton, Public Health Director for London
will lead the review, supported by a wide group
including Trevor Philips, OBE.
Professor Kevin Fenton, Regional Director of Public Health
at PHE and NHS London, said:
Having an accurate understanding of how diseases affect
different groups of people is a really important issue
and a fundamental part of PHE’s role. Detailed and
careful work is being done so that we can better
understand this and explore the possible reasons for any
disparities.
Increasing evidence and concern around the disproportionate
impact of COVID-19 on black and minority ethnic groups
highlights an important focus of this
review. PHE is rapidly building
robust data and undertaking detailed analysis to develop
our understanding of the impact of this novel coronavirus
on different groups which can inform actions to mitigate
the risks it presents.
PHE is
engaging a wide range of external experts and independent
advisors, representing diverse constituencies including
devolved administrations, faith groups, voluntary and
community sector organisations, local government, public
health, academic, royal colleges and others. We are
committed to hearing voices from a variety of
perspectives on the impact of COVID-19 on people of
different ethnicities.
Findings from the review will be published by the end of May
2020.
Background
*This analysis will initially focus on doctors and nurses in
conjunction with the General Medical Council and Nursing
Midwifery Council.
To complement the wider disparity review, a research call by
the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and UK
Research and Innovation (UKRI) has jointly called for
research proposals to investigate emerging evidence
of an association between ethnicity and COVID-19 incidence
and adverse health outcomes.
