New research has identified some common factors associated with severe cases of COVID-19 in African American people, including a high body mass index (BMI).

A new study explores some underlying risk factors for severe COVID-19 among African Americans.

The research, published in the journal Obesity, focused on African American people because they are disproportionately affected by the disease, which results from infection with the new coronavirus.

Even as structural racism requires a wholescale reckoning, understanding the factors beyond systemic inequity that contribute to a high rate of severe COVID-19 among African Americans can help doctors respond effectively.

Christine Bojanowski, an assistant professor at Tulane University’s School of Medicine, in New Orleans, LA, and the corresponding author of the present study, notes, “It is of tremendous importance that we identify risk factors and those individuals who may be at increased risk for severe COVID-19 infection, so that we are able [to] dedicate efforts toward supporting those most affected and in need.”.

The study recorded whether the patients had required treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU), using this to define whether they had experienced severe COVID-19.

Among the patients with severe COVID-19, 85% required intubation and mechanical ventilation due to respiratory failure.