Findings in COVID-19 Reported from Robert Koch Institute (Socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 – An analysis of health insurance data): Coronavirus – COVID-19

CDC & FDA Daily

2023 NOV 09 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at CDC & FDA Daily -- A new study on COVID-19 is now available. According to news reporting originating from Berlin, Germany, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Evidence on socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 outcomes largely rests on ecological studies. Only few studies investigated inequalities in different COVID-19 outcomes prospectively on an individual level.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from Robert Koch Institute: “We therefore conducted an analysis of German health insurance data to assess socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 incidence and hospitalizations within a cohort of insured individuals. We used data of 3.17 million working-aged individuals (18 to 67 years) from various statutory health insurances in Germany. Educational level and occupational position were used as measures of socioeconomic position (SEP). We calculated directly age-standardized incidence rates per 1000 person-weeks (IR) and incidence rate ratios (IRR) among the sample population for COVID-19 incidence and COVID-19 hospitalizations for each exposure during the first four pandemic waves (01.01.2020-31.12.2021). Age-standardized IR and IRR of COVID-19 incidence and hospitalizations showed social gradients with higher rates in socioeconomically more disadvantaged groups. Incidence risk was higher among those in a low occupational position (IRR low vs. high: 1.29, 95% CI 1.27-1.31) and with a low level of education (IRR low vs. high: 1.36, 95% CI 1.34-1.38). Inequalities in COVID-19 hospitalizations were more pronounced with an IRR for low vs. high occupational position of 2.29 (95% CI 2.10-2.50) and an IRR for low vs. high level of education of 1.86 (95% CI 1.72-2.03).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We found socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 by education and occupational position, with inequalities in hospitalizations being more pronounced than those in incidence risk. These results show a high potential of prevention to improve population health and health equity in pandemics with novel respiratory pathogens. Further research on the underlying mechanisms of these inequalities in COVID-19 is needed. Key messages: • Socioeconomically more disadvantaged individuals have a higher risk of COVID-19 and a severe disease progression. • These inequalities should be addressed in future pandemic preparedness planning in order to minimize the unequal health impacts of pandemics with new emerging diseases.”

For more information on this research see: Socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 - An analysis of health insurance data. European Journal of Public Health, 2023,33(Supplement_2). The publisher for European Journal of Public Health is Oxford University Press (OUP).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.1264.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting B Wachtler, Department of Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany. Additional authors for this research include F Beese, M Wahrendorf, J Hoebel.