Study Results from National University of Colombia Provide New Insights into COVID-19 (Health Insurance Scheme: Main Contributor To Inequalities In Covid-19 Mortality In Colombia): Coronavirus – COVID-19

2022 SEP 16 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at NewsRx COVID-19 Daily -- Researchers detail new data in Coronavirus - COVID-19. According to news reporting originating from Bogota, Colombia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “To quantify socioeconomic inequalities in COVID-19 mortality in Colombia and to assess the extent to which type of health insurance, comorbidity burden, area of residence, and ethnicity account for such inequalities. We analyzed data from a retrospective cohort of COVID-19 cases.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the National University of Colombia, “We estimated the relative and slope indices of inequality (RII and SII) using survival models for all participants and stratified them by age and gender. We calculated the percentage reduction in RII and SII after adjustment for potentially relevant factors. We identified significant inequalities for the whole cohort and by subgroups (age and gender). Inequalities were higher among younger adults and gradually decreased with age, going from RII of 5.65 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.25, 9.82) in participants younger than 25 years to RII of 1.49 (95% CI = 1.41, 1.58) in those aged 65 years and older. Type of health insurance was the most important factor, accounting for 20% and 59% of the relative and absolute inequalities, respectively. Significant socioeconomic inequalities exist in COVID-19 mortality in Colombia.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Health insurance appears to be the main contributor to those inequalities, posing challenges for the design of public health strategies.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Health Insurance Scheme: Main Contributor To Inequalities In Covid-19 Mortality In Colombia. American Journal of Public Health, 2022;112. American Journal of Public Health can be contacted at: Amer Public Health Assoc Inc, 800 I Street, NW, Washington, DC 20001-3710, USA.

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Nathaly Garzon-Orjuela, National University, School of Medicine, Hlth Equ Res Grp, Bogota, Colombia. Additional authors for this research include Javier Eslava-Schmalbach, Fabian Gil and Carol C. Guarnizo-Herreno.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2021.306637. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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