Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

37 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Black COVID-19 patients less likely to receive medical follow-ups, study finds By Cailey Gleeson A University of Michigan study published Oct.11 found Black COVID-19 patients are less likely to receive medical follow-ups aer hospitaliza- tions and more likely to experience longer wait times to return to work. Researchers gathered data on 2,217 adult patients hospitalized with COVID-19 60 days following hospitalization from 38 hospitals around the state between March 16, 2020, and July 1, 2020. Six takeaways: 1. Fifty percent of patients of color were readmitted within 60 days after being released. 2. A total of 108 patients reported no follow-up from with a primary care physi- cian following discharge, 64.8 percent of those reporting were Black or Hispanic. 3. Black patients experienced an average 35.5 day delay to return to work while Hispanic patients experienced an average of 10.5 day delays. 4. Patients of color were more than 65 percent more likely to experience moder- ate to severe financial impact. 5. Highest number of deaths following discharge were among white patients (21.5 percent). 6. Less than a quarter of patients discharged back to assisted living, skilled nurs- ing facilities, or subacute rehabilitation facilities remained at those locations in the 60 days following discharge. n People with disabilities less vaccine hesitant, but face more access barriers, CDC report finds By Erica Carbajal A lthough people with disabilities are less likely to report vaccine hesitan- cy, COVID-19 vaccination coverage is lower among this population compared to those without a disability, according to the CDC's Oct. 1 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Researchers conducted a national tele- phone survey between May 30 and June 26, 2021. Among 56,749 respondents, 9.4 percent had a disability that affected their vision, hearing, walking, memory, deci- sion-making or communication. The final response rate was 18.9 percent. Those with a disability were nearly twice as likely to say they would definitely get vaccinated relative to people without a disability. Still, this group was less likely to have received at least their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine. For each age group analyzed, those with a disability were less likely to be vaccinated. Among adults aged 50 to 64, for example, about 63 percent of those with a disability were vaccinated, compared to about 72 percent of people without one. Overall, people with a disability were more likely to say that it would be or was some- what difficult to get vaccinated. This finding was more prevalent among unvaccinated adults, researchers said. Among unvaccinated adults, those who had a disability were more likely to report vaccine access-related difficulties, such as getting an appointment online or getting to a vaccination site. The report noted that accessibility options may range across vaccine sites, adding that current regulations do not require sites to have Amer- ican Sign Language interpreters or providers trained to care for people with disabilities. "Reducing barriers to vaccine scheduling and making vaccination sites more accessi- ble might improve vaccination rates among persons with disabilities," researchers said. n Anxiety and depression rates down in 2021, but still elevated: CDC By Mackenzie Bean N ational rates of anxiety and depression declined in the first half of 2021 but remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to a CDC report published Oct. 5. The report is based on the ongoing Household Pulse Survey, a national online survey developed by the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Center for Health Statistics. The survey has polled a nationally represen- tative sample of U.S. adults biweekly since April 23, 2020. Based on survey responses, the CDC found average anxiety severity scores increased 13 percent between August and December 2020 before falling 26.8 percent between December 2020 and June 2021. CDC researchers reported a similar trend for depression rates. Despite the 2021 decreases, anxiety and depression rates were still higher than national estimates for 2019, according to the CDC. The relative increases and decreases in reported symptoms also "mirrored the national weekly number of new COVID-19 cases during the same period," the agency said. n

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