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THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The overall incidence of COVID-19 is increased among American Indian and Alaska Native (AI\/AN) persons in the United States, according to research published in the Aug. 19 early-release issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Sarah M. Hatcher, Ph.D., from the CDC COVID-19 Response Team, and colleagues examined the impact of COVID-19 among the AI\/AN population by analyzing reports of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases during Jan. 22 to July 3, 2020. The analysis was limited to 23 states with >70 percent complete race\/ethnicity information; complete race\/ethnicity information was available for 340,059 cases.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that the cumulative incidence was 594 per 100,000 AI\/AN population in these 23 states compared with 169 per 100,000 White population (rate ratio, 3.5). Compared with White persons, AI\/AN persons with COVID-19 were younger (median age, 40 versus 51 years); compared with White patients, a higher proportion of AI\/AN patients were aged <18 years and a smaller proportion were aged \u226565 years (12.9 versus 4.3 percent and 12.6 versus 28.6 percent, respectively).<\/p>\n
“These findings highlight the important contribution of adequate health care and public health infrastructure resources to culturally responsive public health efforts intended to sustain the strengths of AI\/AN communities,” the authors write.<\/p>\n