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Review into factors impacting health outcomes from COVID-19

Thousands of existing health records for people who have had COVID-19 are to be examined as part of a major exercise to establish more robust data on the factors impacting the number of cases and health outcomes for different groups within the population.

The exercise is part of a rapid review being led by Public Health England (PHE) to better understand how different factors such as ethnicity, deprivation, age, gender and obesity could impact on how people are affected by COVID-19.

The review will also look at vulnerable groups such as people experiencing homelessness and rough sleeping to understand how the virus affects them and their health outcomes. 

Where PHE has access to the occupation of cases, particularly related to health workers, analysis will be done on the outcome of infections for this group.

Health and Social Care Secretary, Matt Hancock said: "Every death from this virus is a tragedy and behind each statistic is a name, a loss and a family that will never be the same again.

"As part of our continued effort to understand even more about COVID-19, we have commissioned work from PHE to consider the impact of various factors such as ethnicity, obesity, age, gender and geographical location and how these may have an impact on someone’s susceptibility to the virus. The more we know about this virus and its impact, the more we will be able protect lives and limit the spread."

The review will help provide insight into emerging evidence to suggest COVID-19 may be having a disproportionate impact on different groups and examine the potential effects of other factors such as ethnicity, level of obesity or gender.

The review will also match laboratory records of COVID-19 cases to existing health records to draw down accurate data such as ethnicity and describe the association with COVID-19 cases, alongside other factors such as sex, age and geographical location.

Professor Kevin Fenton, Public Health Director for London will lead the review, supported by a wide group including Trevor Phillips, OBE. He commented: "Having an accurate understanding of how diseases affect different groups of people is a really important issue and a fundamental part of PHE’s role. Detailed and careful work is being done so that we can better understand this and explore the possible reasons for any disparities.

"Increasing evidence and concern around the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on black and minority ethnic groups highlights an important focus of this review. PHE is rapidly building robust data and undertaking detailed analysis to develop our understanding of the impact of this novel coronavirus on different groups which can inform actions to mitigate the risks it presents."

Findings from the review will be published by the end of May 2020.

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Upcoming Events

Central Sterilising Club - Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Crowne Plaza at Gerrard’s Cross
15th April 2024 – 16th April 2024

DECON UK 2024

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
17th April 2024

Infection Prevention & Control

National Conference Centre, Birmingham
23rd - 24th April 2024

Theatres & Decontamination Conference 2024

Coventry Building Society Arena
16th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Birmingham

Millennium Point, Birmingham
18th May 2024

The AfPP Roadshow - Exeter

University of Exeter
22nd June 2024

Access the latest issue of Clinical Services Journal on your mobile device together with an archive of back issues.

Download the FREE Clinical Services Journal app from your device's App store

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