The disproportionate effect of COVID-19 mortality on ethnic minorities : genetics or health inequalities?

CITATION: El-Khatib, Z. et al. 2020. The disproportionate effect of COVID-19 mortality on ethnic minorities : genetics or health inequalities? EClinicalMedicine, 23:100430, doi:10.1016/j.eclinm.2020.100430.The original publication is available at https://www.thelancet.com/journals/eclinm/homeThe cases of novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continue to increase across the world, infecting nearly 5.5 million individuals and more than 350,000 death. The earlier studies indicate that significant risk factors for severe COVID-19 are older adults, and people with co-morbidities (regardless of age) including chronic lung diseases, heart diseases, severe obesity (body mass index 40 or higher), and diabetes. When it comes to the role of race/ethnicity, the data is limited, which could be disproportionately affecting ethnic minorities as observed in England during 2009 Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic [1 ]. Earlier reports from the United Kingdom indicated black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) are the hardest hit with COVID-19 both in terms of critically ill as well as higher mortality [2 ]Publisher's versio