by Amidst the pandemic, prompt access to COVID-19 testing played a pivotal role in controlling the disease’s spread and guiding treatment decisions. Previous research has highlighted racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 infection rates, clinical outcomes, and access to treatment and testing. However, there was a lack of studies specifically addressing the relationship between race, ethnicity, and delayed COVID-19 testing among healthcare personnel (HCP).
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham health care system, aimed to bridge this gap in knowledge. They conducted a study to investigate the association between delayed COVID-19 testing and various demographic factors among HCP. Their findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Network Open, revealed that non-Hispanic Black HCP and non-Hispanic HCP of other races experienced significantly higher rates of delayed testing compared to non-Hispanic white HCP.
The team analyzed testing practices among 5,541 HCP across 15 academic medical centers in the United States. They examined data from December 2020 to April 2022. The researchers focused on the timing of COVID-19 testing, which was classified as delayed (performed three days or more after symptom onset) or early (performed within two days of symptom onset). They assessed these factors in relation to sex, age, race, ethnicity, education level, job classification, comorbid conditions, vaccination status, and health insurance status.
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1. Source: Coherent Market Insights, Public sources, Desk research.
2. We have leveraged AI tools to mine information and compile it.
