One third of consultant physicians in the UK are at an increased risk of death from COVID-19, according to a new study. Some sub-specialties including haematology and rheumatology were among those with substantially increased risk.
Previous reports have shown that while Black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) individuals accounted for about 21% of total NHS staff, they had far higher rates of deaths due to COVID-19. In fact, BAME individuals accounted for 95% of medical staff deaths, 63% of nursing deaths and 64% of support staff deaths.
With these data as a background, researchers led by Dr Ajay Verma, of Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, evaluated the risks of COVID-19 related deaths among 13,502 consultant physicians.
Of 5,099 female physicians, 26.5% were of BAME ethnicity, compared with 40.3% of 8,404 male physicians.
Using a risk grid for the UK population with a female aged 50-59 years as a reference, they then analysed where consultant physicians fitted in terms of risk of COVID-19-related death.
The overall population risks highlighted that men were at higher risk of death, with a two- to six-fold increase for those over 60 years of age, and a hazard ratio of 1.59 for all men compared to women at any age.