COVID-19 in Patients with a Primary Refugee-Associated Language in a Kentucky Emergency Department During 2020

COVID-19 has heavily impacted the refugee population in the United States due to exposure risks, living and working conditions, and healthcare access, but little is known about outcomes. We reviewed emergency department visits to a Kentucky hospital among 2163 patients from March-December 2020, stud...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of immigrant and minority health 2023-06, Vol.25 (3), p.728-732
Main Authors: Hamm, Joel, Duncan, Meredith S., Robertson, Nicole M., Keck, James W., Crabtree, Katherine
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Body mass index
Brief Communication
Comparative Law
COVID-19
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
COVID-19 Testing
Diagnosis
Emergency medical care
Emergency medical services
Emergency Service, Hospital
Emergency services
English language
Health care access
Health services
Hispanic Americans
Hospitalization
Hospitals
Humans
International & Foreign Law
Kentucky - epidemiology
Language
Length of stay
Medical diagnosis
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mortality
Patients
Private International Law
Public Health
Refugees
Regression analysis
Retrospective Studies
Sociology
United States
Working conditions
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Summary:COVID-19 has heavily impacted the refugee population in the United States due to exposure risks, living and working conditions, and healthcare access, but little is known about outcomes. We reviewed emergency department visits to a Kentucky hospital among 2163 patients from March-December 2020, studying incidence of COVID-19 diagnosis for patients with a primary refugee-associated language compared to English speakers, and outcomes after diagnosis including hospitalization, length of stay, and in-hospital mortality. Patients in the population of interest had higher odds of COVID-19 diagnosis in the hospital (OR = 12.31, 95% CI 7.80–19.40), but, among those with COVID-19, lower odds of hospital admission (OR = 0.58, 95% CI 0.37–0.90) and shorter median length of stay (4.1 vs. 10.5 days) compared to English speakers. The study corroborates reports of comparatively higher COVID-19 incidence in patients speaking a primary refugee-associated language, but implies milder illness severity, possibly reflecting this population’s baseline health.
ISSN:1557-1912
1557-1920
DOI:10.1007/s10903-022-01435-4