Research

The HDPulse provided by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities provides access to data, interventions, and resources to identify, prioritize, and mitigate health disparities.

This article from the Kaiser Family Foundation describes the latest data on COVID-19 vaccinations by race/ethnicity. 

CDC presents COVID-19 vaccination data, which can be viewed in relation to location, the social vulnerability index, vaccination status and age. 

The Morehouse School of Medicine and Satcher Health Leadership Institute created this dashboard compiling health equity data that compares COVID-19 infection rates with demographic data and explores the relationships between a variety of comorbidities and COVID-19.

This page catalogs various CDC health equity-related COVID-19 data sources.

Emory University created this interactive dashboard, which compares COVID-19 outcomes in relation to social determinants of health by state and county.

This paper in Psychiatry Research reviews a variety of articles related to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and adolescents’ mental health and calls for longitudinal studies and access to mental health support.

This review in Reproductive Health compiles evidence on the direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic on maternal health and provides an overview of the most significant outcomes thus far.

Public Health Reports provides commentary on how to improve vaccination rates by developing creative strategies for overcoming barriers to vaccination access.

The authors of this research letter highlighted in JAMA Internal Medicine conducted semi-structured interviews to determine reasons for low vaccination rates in Black communities and preferred strategies to promote COVID-19 vaccination.

The authors of this letter to the editor of Nature Medicine outline the need for justice-driven and equitable approaches to the federal at-home antigen test program focused on equity over equality.  

This article examines how global vaccine inequity arose, lays out a renewed case for urgently ramping up the commitment to vaccine equity and proposes principles to ensure no one is left behind in the quest to vaccinate the world.

This paper in The Lancet explores the indirect effects that COVID-19 has had on gender disparities globally. The most significant gender gaps identified showed intensified levels of pre-existing widespread inequalities between women and men during the pandemic.

This study explores whether non-Hispanic Black patients have more severe COVID-19 at presentation and worse COVID-19–related outcomes when compared with non-Hispanic White patients after adjusting for demographic and clinical risk factors. The authors conclude that within the framework of structural racism in the U.S., having cancer and COVID-19 is associated with worse outcomes among Black patients when compared with White patients. 

Authors of this MMWR article report that the use of at-home COVID-19 antigen tests was lower among persons who self-identified as Black, were aged less than 75 years, and had a high school level education or less. The report suggests providing reliable and low-cost or free at-home tests to underserved populations could support continued prevention efforts.

This retrospective study estimated changes in use of primary and specialty care by race/ethnicity and community social vulnerability in the year before and after COVID-19 diagnosis. While the overall probability and counts of primary and specialty care visits increased following a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, disparities in care utilization by race/ethnicity and living in a socially vulnerable community persisted in the year that followed. 

Oxford University Press created collections of published material and research on equity and health care.

Authors of this MMWR noted a significant difference in COVID-19 hospitalization rates during the peak of the Omicron variant in Black adults compared to White adults and suggest implementing equitable COVID-19 vaccination strategies as an urgent public health priority.

In this MMWR, authors discuss the low vaccination coverage in children, especially in high social vulnerability index areas, the likely contributors to low vaccination coverage and ongoing strategies to improve vaccine coverage among children aged 5-11 years.

COVID-19 vaccination coverage was lower in rural counties than urban counties, and the authors of this MMWR discuss the various contributing factors to this disparity in vaccine coverage.

This call to action in the Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities lays out a multi-pronged, coordinated approach to proactively and systematically advance health equity for Black Americans across the U.S.

Authors of this editorial piece in the Annals of Internal Medicine discuss several factors that impacted excess deaths during the pandemic and make a call for commitments to address these factors.

The Tennessee Department of Health’s Division of Disparities Elimination sought to address health disparities by engaging with local community partners to help increase vaccine trust and accessibility and providing information to the people that need it.

CDC highlighted West Virginia public health leaders’ communications efforts on COVID-19 vaccines, which included data collection to understand health beliefs, attitudes and perceived barriers to COVID-19 vaccinations before developing communication and outreach plans.