US research - Excessive death during a pandemic – with huge racial bias

Recently CNN.co.jp reported the following:

パンデミック下の超過死亡、人種に大きな偏り　米研究

2021.10.05 Tue posted at 14:58 JST

（ＣＮＮ） 米国で新型コロナウイルス感染が拡大した昨年３～１２月の死者が黒人や先住民、中南米系に大きく偏っていたことが、平年と比べて死者がどのくらい多かったかを示す「超過死亡」のデータから明らかになった。米国立がん研究所（ＮＣＩ）主導の研究チームが、米内科の機関誌「ＡＩＭ」に発表した。

研究チームは米疾病対策センター（ＣＤＣ）による死亡診断書のデータと米国勢調査局の人口推計に基づき、人種や民族、性別、年齢と死因別の超過死亡者数を２０１９年の同じ時期と比較した。

発表によると、昨年３～１２月に米国内で報告された死者は推計２８８万人。超過死亡者は４７万７２００人で、このうち７４％の死因が新型コロナ感染だった。

年齢調整後の１０万人あたりの超過死亡は、黒人と先住民、中南米系の男女が白人、アジア人男女の２倍を超えていた。

新型コロナ感染以外による１０万人あたりの超過死亡は、黒人と先住民のグループで白人の３～４倍、中南米系で２倍近くに及んだ。届け出上の死因には糖尿病、心臓病、脳卒中、アルツハイマー病などが含まれる。

チームを率いたＮＣＩの研究者は、パンデミック下での受診が不安で見送ったケースと、新型コロナ感染で死亡したが届け出が間違っていたケースが大半を占めるとの見方を示した。

同研究者は、新型コロナの死者数だけに注目すればパンデミックによる真の影響を過小評価することになると指摘。新たなデータは、長年にわたる人種間の格差を浮き彫りにしていると述べた。

Translation

(CNN) It became clear from the “excess death” data on the death toll from March to December last year when the new coronavirus infection spread in the United States, compared to normal years, that there was a large biased toward blacks, indigenous peoples, and Latin Americans. A research team led by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) published this in the US internal medicine journal "AIM".

The research team compared the number of exceptionally excessive deaths by types under race, ethnicity, gender, age, and the cause of death with the same period in 2019, based on death certificate data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and population estimates from the US Census Bureau.

According to the announcement, an estimated 2.88 million deaths were reported in the United States from March to December last year. The excess death toll was 477,200, of which 74% were caused by the new coronavirus infection.

After adjusting the age, regarding the excess mortality per 100,000 people, the blacks, indigenous peoples, and Latin American men and women were more than double the whites and Asians.

For excessive deaths per 100,000 people due to non-coronavirus infections, the black and indigenous groups were three to four times higher than whites, and those of Latin American descent nearly double. Reported causes of death include diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and Alzheimer's disease.

NCI researchers who led the team said that the majority of cases were not seeing a doctor under a pandemic due to worries, and the cases died of a new corona infection but were being misreported.

The researchers said that just focusing solely on the death toll of the new Corona would underestimate the true impact of the pandemic. It was said that the new data highlighted the long-standing racial disparities.

              So, regarding the excess mortality, the blacks, indigenous peoples, and Latin American men and women have been more than double the whites and Asians. This highlights the long-standing racial disparities in the US.

Note: Excess mortality, or excess death (超過死亡) is the actual number of deaths that exceeds the expected number of deaths calculated by using vital statistics, it is a situation where more people have died than expected. It is an idea of using the degree of excess death as an index to measure the magnitude of an epidemic.