{"id":47676,"date":"2020-06-02T11:38:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T10:38:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=47676"},"modified":"2020-06-22T07:30:48","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T06:30:48","slug":"inequality-in-our-ethnic-minorities-we-must-act-before-the-next-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/06\/02\/inequality-in-our-ethnic-minorities-we-must-act-before-the-next-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Inequality in our ethnic minorities: we must act before the next pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"standfirst\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Dipesh P Gopal and Sonia Adesara call for action now<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It was welcoming to hear about the plan for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/369\/bmj.m1562\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a formal review to investigate<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> the disproportionate numbers of people from an ethnic minority background who have been affected by covid-19<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A report by the intensive care national audit and research centre (ICNARC) found that <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">33% <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.icnarc.org\/Our-Audit\/Audits\/Cmp\/Reports\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">of 9347 patients<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (correct as of 29 May) who were admitted to intensive care were from ethnic minority backgrounds and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/statistics\/statistical-work-areas\/covid-19-daily-deaths\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">16% of total national deaths<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (correct as of 29 May)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from coronavirus have been in people from ethnic minority backgrounds, despite only making up<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ons.gov.uk\/peoplepopulationandcommunity\/populationandmigration\/populationestimates\/methodologies\/researchreportonpopulationestimatesbycharacteristics#findings\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">14% of the UK population<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The coronavirus mortality risk was <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/opensafely.org\/outputs\/2020\/05\/covid-risk-factors\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">62% higher for Asian people and 71% higher for black people<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compared to white people even when controlling for <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/369\/bmj.m1873\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">age, gender, body mass index, co-morbidities and deprivation<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This effect on the ethnic minority population has been mirrored in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fom.ac.uk\/covid-19\/update-risk-reduction-framework-for-nhs-staff-at-risk-of-covid-19-infection\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NHS staff<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/politics\/2020\/04\/23\/stark-racial-imbalance-coronavirus-infections-visualized\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">multiple American states<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Such differences in mortality in the UK <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ifs.org.uk\/inequality\/chapter\/are-some-ethnic-groups-more-vulnerable-to-covid-19-than-others\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cannot be accounted for<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> by non-hospital deaths such as in care homes, but may be explained by key worker roles. However, disparities in health outcomes and mortality rates between ethnic minority communities and the white British population are nothing new.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Within the UK, South Asian children have a lower asthma incidence, but both black and South Asian people have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(05)17785-X\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">2-3 times higher risk of hospital admission<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> compared to white people. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/statistics\/statistical-work-areas\/cancer-patient-experience-survey\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The National Cancer Patient Experience Survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> showed that patients from minority backgrounds feel less likely to be involved in their care and less supported. For Asian women and black women<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npeu.ox.ac.uk\/downloads\/files\/mbrrace-uk\/reports\/MBRRACE-UK%20Maternal%20Report%202019%20-%20WEB%20VERSION.pdf\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the risk of maternal mortality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is twice and five times that compared to white British women respectively. Black British men have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.nhs.uk\/data-and-information\/publications\/statistical\/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey\/adult-psychiatric-morbidity-survey-survey-of-mental-health-and-wellbeing-england-2014#key-facts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">7 times higher the risk of psychosis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and black British people are <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/digital.nhs.uk\/data-and-information\/publications\/statistical\/mental-health-act-statistics-annual-figures\/2017-18-annual-figures#key-facts\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">4 times more likely to be detained<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> under the Mental Health Act compared to white people. The most obvious question is why.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Innate biological and genetic factors have been suggested as a cause of high coronavirus mortality and morbidity for ethnic minority communities. This included racial <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0009898120301339?via%3Dihub\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">genetic differences<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> in angiotensin-converting-enzyme (ACE) receptors, but these have not been validated in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41421-020-0147-1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">more comprehensive work<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Furthermore there is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bioone.org\/journals\/human-biology\/volume-83\/issue-6\/027.083.0601\/A-Population-Genetic-Perspective-on-the-Similarities-and-Differences-among\/10.3378\/027.083.0601.short\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">further evidence<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of greater genetic variation within races than between races.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Others suggested low vitamin D levels, but a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.journalslibrary.nihr.ac.uk\/hta\/hta23020#\/full-report\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">pre-pandemic meta-analysis<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> of 11321 participants showed vitamin D supplementation was associated with a mere 12% decrease risk in respiratory infections. We also know that <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.org.uk\/publications\/what-makes-us-healthy\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">socio-economic factors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> significantly impact a person\u2019s health to a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nyaspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/j.1749-6632.1999.tb08123.x\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">greater extent<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> than healthcare access or biological\/genetic factors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ethnic minority communities have lower disability-free life expectancy (DFLE) at birth,<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/library.oapen.org\/handle\/20.500.12657\/22310\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher infant mortality<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, higher unemployment, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.hse.gov.uk\/research\/crr_pdf\/2000\/crr00265.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">higher work stress<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (30% vs 18% white communities) and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/cpag.org.uk\/child-poverty\/child-poverty-facts-and-figures\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">almost double the rates of poverty<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> after housing costs (45% vs 26% for white communities). This is against a background of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.health.org.uk\/publications\/reports\/the-marmot-review-10-years-on\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">widening disparities in health and life expectancy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> between the wealthiest and most deprived communities in the UK. This coincides with cuts to public spending which have <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.runnymedetrust.org\/projects-and-publications\/employment-3\/race-gender-and-austerity.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">disproportionately impacted women<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from ethnic minorities. These inequalities are<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thelancet.com\/journals\/lancet\/article\/PIIS0140-6736(17)30569-X\/fulltext\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> also <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">evident in the USA<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Socio-economic vulnerabilities are further exposed by this pandemic and the choice to \u201cstay at home\u201d is a luxury not afforded to all. Many families without financial security are forced to continue working or face destitution.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MichaelMarmot\/status\/1213548172301127680\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">words of Michael Marmot<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, \u201c<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">People are not poor because they make poor choices. Poverty leads to poor \u2018choices\u2019 or, more precisely, no choices.<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We must ask ourselves uncomfortable questions about how we see others and whether we treat people differently. Why did <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-51348593\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">members of the public<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> inflict racist abuse onto Chinese restaurants as the pandemic unfolded? Or <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jmir.org\/2020\/4\/e18790\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">reject Uber rides<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from East-Asian looking people over others at the epidemic stage? Many academics attribute this to &#8220;unconscious bias&#8221;\u2014the way we see others differently\u2014to which clinicians are not immune. We must acknowledge our own biases. However, bias cannot be a scapegoat and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com\/articles\/10.1186\/s40359-019-0299-7\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bias training alone<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is insufficient. We must speak out when people of different races are treated differently: racism. As Angela Davis said, \u201cit is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/about\/equality\/equality-hub\/equality-standard\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> (WRES) is making headway addressing racial inequalities within workforce and leadership. Issues around <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/368\/bmj.m339.long\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">differential attainment<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.england.nhs.uk\/about\/equality\/equality-hub\/equality-standard\/workforce-race-equality-standard-2019-report\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">bullying<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gmc-uk.org\/about\/what-we-do-and-why\/data-and-research\/research-and-insight-archive\/fair-to-refer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">disproportionate GMC referrals<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, and feeling <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/freedomtospeakup.org.uk\/the-report\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">less able to raise workforce safety concerns<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are especially important given <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bma.org.uk\/news-and-opinion\/bame-doctors-hit-worse-by-lack-of-ppe\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">doctors<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rcn.org.uk\/news-and-events\/news\/uk-bame-nursing-staff-experiencing-greater-ppe-shortages-covid-19-280520\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">nurses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> from ethnic minorities have been disproportionately affected by <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">inadequate personal protective equipment (PPE)<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> during this pandemic.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Healthcare teams may wish to implement<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/03\/05\/women-from-ethnic-minorities-face-endemic-structural-racism-when-seeking-and-accessing-healthcare\/\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">a cultural safety model<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to mitigate influences of biases and power imbalances that propagate racial disparities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We need our politicians to listen to us about the harmful association between cuts to public services, such as healthcare and local authorities, and worsening inequalities. Perhaps <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jech.bmj.com\/content\/63\/3\/181.long\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Virchow said it best<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u201cMedicine is a social science, and politics nothing but medicine at a larger scale\u201d.<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Cuts to public services disproportionally affect our ethnic minority communities even outside of a pandemic and these inequalities are exacerbated during a pandemic.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> However, we shouldn\u2019t be waiting for a pandemic to implement change. To paraphrase H James Harrington, to improve outcomes we must measure those outcomes to understand why they occur. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We look forward to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/368\/bmj.m530\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">the race equality observatory<\/span><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nhsconfed.org\/news\/2020\/05\/race-health-observatory\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">recently launched<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to measure racial differences in health and healthcare which is now very necessary. The result of PHE&#8217;s formal review on the disproportionate impact of covid-19 on ethnic minority healthcare workers is now urgently needed. Greater equality in society <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/339\/bmj.b4320.long\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">benefits<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> even those with the least to gain.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Dipesh P Gopal<\/strong> (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dipeshgopal\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@dipeshgopal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), GP and Honorary Research Fellow, Queen Mary, University of London, UK.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Sonia Adesara<\/strong> (<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/soniaadesara\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">@soniaadesara<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">), GP registrar, London<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Recommended resources<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: We would recommend anyone interested in this topic to visit the helpful BMJ collection of papers called \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bmj.com\/racism-in-medicine\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Racism in Medicine<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d and the 5 minute video on \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=BDSurHtFtZA\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Learning from the experience of BME cancer patients: bias<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201d.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Competing Interests<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">: DG is an honorary trainee member of the Late Effects Group of the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) and honorary research fellow at the Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry. SA is a former National Medical Director\u2019s Clinical Fellow (2018\/19).<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dipesh P Gopal and Sonia Adesara call for action now [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/06\/02\/inequality-in-our-ethnic-minorities-we-must-act-before-the-next-pandemic\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[223],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-47676","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-bloggers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Inequality in our ethnic minorities: we must act before the next pandemic - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2020\/06\/02\/inequality-in-our-ethnic-minorities-we-must-act-before-the-next-pandemic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Inequality in our ethnic minorities: we must act before the next pandemic - 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