key: cord-0967100-54fx3q6y authors: Barsoum, Zakaria title: Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and Health Workers of an Ethnic Group—A Slant on a Shocking Report date: 2020-07-18 journal: SN Compr Clin Med DOI: 10.1007/s42399-020-00422-w sha: 95ae8afcb6f8fc13ac0f7380550306bb150ac45e doc_id: 967100 cord_uid: 54fx3q6y The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is an unprecedented challenge to all health care professionals. I present a brief report on a shocking report, released recently in the UK on this matter. Relative to NHS, the British Dental Association (BDA) quote that 28% of UK dentists are of BAME origin. Dental practice cannot be practised remotely, placing BAME dentists at further increased risks of contracting CoVID-19. There is, however, little evidence on the risks posed to the BAME community within the dental profession [3] . Data on ethnicity in patients with COVID-19 in the published medical literature remains limited. However, emerging data from the grey literature and preprint articles suggest BAME individuals are at an increased risk of acquiring COVID-19 infection compared with White individuals and also worse clinical outcomes from COVID-19 [4] . From 1 March 2020 up to 5pm on 21 April 2020, Aldridge et al. undertook indirect standardisation of international and UK data (using the whole population of England as the reference) to produce ethnic specific standardised mortality ratios (SMRs) adjusted for age and geographical region. The analysis supported the evidence that BAME people are at increased risk of death from COVID-19 even after adjusting for geographical region [5] . Potential causes are biological, medical and socio-economical. Living in tight family units and lack of proper social distancing may play a role in widespread transmission of COVID-19 among BAME health workers. Prevalence of other diseases among BAME health workers such as diabetes and hypertension may also compound the situation. Working in frontline jobs may exponentially increase the risks and place BAME health workers in jeopardy of COVID-19 contracting. Family members of this group are at increased risks of COVID-19, placing health workers at immense emotional pressures. In one study, multivariate logistic regression models including age, sex and ethnicity did not show that addition of cardio-metabolic factors ( cholesterol, prior myocardial infarction, smoking and body mass index (BMI)); 25(OH)-vitamin D; poor diet; Townsend deprivation score; housing (home type, overcrowding) or behavioural factors (sociability, risk taking) attenuated sex/ ethnicity associations with COVID-19 status, [6] requiring more comprehensive assessment of the complex economic, social and behavioural differences. Uncertainty is another concern. Among 200 respondents to a questionnaire through Leicester Asian Doctors Society and Leicester Asian Nurses Society, more than 70% were anxious about their role during this pandemic. [7] In the short and long run, BAME health workers await expositions about their vulnerability to the disease. I believe further investigations to explicate this issue are increasingly warranted. COVID-19-related research should now focus at this sector of the population, their proneness to COVID-19, based on racial, occupational, socio-economic and possibly genetic predisposition. Scholars may not be able to find simple answers to this conundrum why BAME health workers seem to be more vulnerable to COVID-19. The head of the British Medical Association has recently called on the government to urgently investigate the matter. Exclusive: deaths of NHS staff from COVID-19 analysed Why are more BAME people dying from COVID-19? BJN The impact of the risk of COVID-19 on Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) members of the UK dental profession The impact of ethnicity on clinical outcomes in COVID-19: a systematic review Asian and minority ethnic groups in England are at increased risk of death from COVID-19: indirect standardisation of NHS mortality data. Wellcome Open Res Greater risk of severe COVID-19 in Black, Asian and minority ethnic populations is not explained by cardiometabolic, socioeconomic or behavioural factors, or by 25(OH)-vitamin D status: study of 1326 cases from the UK Biobank Emerging public health challenge in UK: perception and belief on increased COVID19 death among BAME healthcare workers The author declares that he has no conflict of interest.Ethical Approval Not required.Informed Consent Not required.