Racial minority COVID-19 patients are at much higher risk for needing hospitalization and intensive care than their White counterparts, a new Kaiser Permanente Southern California (KPSC) study finds.The retrospective study, published yesterday in the Annals of Internal Medicine, involved comparing the electronic health records of 47,974 adult Hispanic, Black, Asian, Pacific Islander, and White COVID-19 patients from Mar 1 to Jul 31, 2020.
KPSC serves 10 Southern California counties, with a membership that roughly represents the racial makeup of its service area.Of the 47,947 COVID-19 patients, 9.42% were hospitalized, and 3.12% were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).