Understanding racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality using a novel metric: COVID excess mortality percentage.

Prior research on racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality has often not considered to what extent they reflect COVID-19-specific factors, versus preexisting health differences. This study examines how racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality vary with age, sex, and time period over April-December 2020 in the United States, using mortality from other natural causes as a proxy for underlying health. We study a novel measure, the COVID excess mortality percentage (CEMP), defined as the COVID-19 mortality rate divided by the non-COVID natural mortality rate, converted to a percentage, where the CEMP denominator controls (albeit imperfectly) for differences in population health. Disparities measured using CEMP deviate substantially from those in prior research. In particular, we find very high disparities (up to 12:1) in CEMP rates for Hispanics versus Whites, particularly for nonelderly men. Asians also have elevated CEMP rates versus Whites, which were obscured in prior work by lower overall Asian mortality. Native Americans and Blacks have significant disparities compared with White populations, but CEMP ratios to Whites are lower than ratios reported in other work. This is because the higher COVID-19 mortality for Blacks and Native Americans comes partly from higher general mortality risk and partly from COVID-specific risk.

Evidence on COVID-19 Mortality and Disparities Using a Novel Measure, COVID excess mortality percentage: Evidence from Indiana, Wisconsin, and Illinois.

COVID-19 mortality rates increase rapidly with age, are higher among men than women, and vary across racial/ethnic groups, but this is also true for other natural causes of death. Prior research on COVID-19 mortality rates and racial/ethnic disparities in those rates has not considered to what extent disparities reflect COVID-19-specific factors, versus preexisting health differences. This study examines both questions. We study the COVID-19-related increase in mortality risk and racial/ethnic disparities in COVID-19 mortality, and how both vary with age, gender, and time period. We use a novel measure validated in prior work, the COVID Excess Mortality Percentage (CEMP), defined as the COVID-19 mortality rate (Covid-MR), divided by the non-COVID natural mortality rate during the same time period (non-Covid NMR), converted to a percentage. The CEMP denominator uses Non-COVID NMR to adjust COVID-19 mortality risk for underlying population health. The CEMP measure generates insights which differ from those using two common measures-the COVID-MR and the all-cause excess mortality rate. By studying both CEMP and COVID-MRMR, we can separate the effects of background health from Covid-specific factors affecting COVID-19 mortality. We study how CEMP and COVID-MR vary by age, gender, race/ethnicity, and time period, using data on all adult decedents from natural causes in Indiana and Wisconsin over April 2020-June 2022 and Illinois over April 2020-December 2021. CEMP levels for racial and ethnic minority groups can be very high relative to White levels, especially for Hispanics in 2020 and the first-half of 2021. For example, during 2020, CEMP for Hispanics aged 18-59 was 68.9% versus 7.2% for non-Hispanic Whites; a ratio of 9.57:1. CEMP disparities are substantial but less extreme for other demographic groups. Disparities were generally lower after age 60 and declined over our sample period. Differences in socio-economic status and education explain only a small part of these disparities.

Atenção integral e eficiência no Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em Doenças de Chagas do Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas, 2009-2011 / Integrated health care and efficiency in the Chagas’ Disease Clinic Research Laboratory, Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute/Fiocruz, 2009-2011

Objetivo: caracterizar o grau de diversificação dos procedimentos requeridos do Modelo de Atenção Integral no tratamento da doença de Chagas e analisá-lo quanto à eficiência no uso de recursos em 2009-2011. Métodos: levantamento de microcustos e modelos de Custeio Baseado em Atividades e Análise Envoltória de Dados, no cálculo das despesas e custos unitários efetivos dos procedimentos para um estudo de caso de avaliação do desempenho do modelo de atenção do Laboratório de Pesquisa Clínica em Doença de Chagas/Instituto de Pesquisa Clínica Evandro Chagas/Fiocruz. Resultados: o grau de diversificação e a motivação pró-eficiência foram confirmados – 291 tipos de procedimentos em 2009, e ganho de eficiência de 19 por cento no período 2009-2011. Conclusão: a análise de eficiência revela poder explicativo sobre a tomada de decisão nas organizações públicas multipropósito de saúde, evidenciando a eficiência do modelo no tratamento da doença de Chagas e sua contribuição potencial para ações efetivas do Sistema Único de Saúde brasileiro (SUS).

Objective: to characterize the level of procedure diversification required by the Integral Health Care Model for Chagas disease treatment and assess it with respect to efficient use of resources. Methods: a microcosts survey, as well as Activity-Based Costing (ABC) and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) models, were used to calculate annual expenditure and actual unit costs of procedures for a case study assessing the performance of the Chagas’ Disease Clinic Research Laboratory/Evandro Chagas Clinical Research Institute/Fiocruz health care model. Results: diversification and pro-efficiency motivation were confirmed by the identification of 291 procedures types in 2009 and 19 per cent efficiency gain in the period 2009-2011. Conclusion: efficiency Analysis reveals explanatory power over decision-making in multipurpose public health organizations and demonstrated the efficiency of the model in Chagas disease treatment and its potential contribution to effective care actions in the Brazilian Unified Health System.