Young Black Women 4-Times More Likely To Die Of COVID-19 Than White Americans: Study

KEY POINTS

Black women with high school education had a 3.2 COVID-19 mortality rate ratio than White women
Black women with college education were 5.4 times more likely to die of COVID-19
Only Asians had a lower COVID-19 death rate than White Americans

A new study published in JAMA Network Open has found that young black women have a higher risk of dying of COVID-19 than White Americans.

In the study published Tuesday, researchers from Harvard University analyzed COVID-19 death data of the 219.1 million Americans aged 25 and older in 2020 and found that young Black women were 4.2 times more likely to die of the virus than White women of the same age.

The mortality rate ratio (MRR) fell to 3.2 for Black women with high school education but rose to approximately 5.4 for those who graduated college.

Other racial minorities also died of COVID-19 at a higher rate than White people. Among American Indians and Alaska Natives, at least 334.5 per 100,000 people died of the virus. Among Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, the mortality rate rose to 356.9 per 100,000.

Death rates were the lowest among Asians, 110.9 per 100,000 and White Americans, 116.4 per 100,000.

The study also found that nearly all racial groups had higher COVID-19 death rates, except older Asian women of any education level, younger Asian women who had a high school education or less, older Asian men who graduated college and older Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander men with a college education.

"If all groups had experienced the same mortality rates as college-educated non-Hispanic White individuals, there would have been 48% fewer COVID-19 deaths among adults aged 25 years or older overall,” the authors wrote in their study.

At least 376,125 Americans aged 25 or older died of COVID-19 in 2020, with an average age of 51.3-years-old, the study found.

In the paper, the researchers also urged public health officials to consider “eliminating joint racial-socioeconomic health inequities” to reduce their risk factors for COVID-19 infections and death.

The research comes as the United States reported 94,335 new COVID-19 cases and 1,125 additional deaths Tuesday. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has recorded a total of 47,944,266 infections and 774,580 deaths, according to an analysis by The New York Times.