American researchers have found that 10% of black people who died from coronavirus could have been saved if they were admitted to the same hospitals as white people.
The Pennsylvania-based study thoroughly examined the regular trends of hospital deaths from COVID-19 across 41 states.
The team of academics analysed the data from 44,217 white people and 10,758 black people in 1,188 hospitals.
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The findings disclose that black people were more prone to live after receiving care in a hospital predominantly used by white people.
Black people are up to three times more at risk of dying from coronavirus compared to white people.
The surge of COVID-19 deaths amongst ethnic minorities has highlighted the medical segregation across America.
Lead researcher Dr David Asch said: “Our study reveals that Black patients have worse outcomes largely because they tend to go to worse-performing hospitals.
“Because patients tend to go to hospitals near where they live, these new findings tell a story of racial residential segregation and reflect our country’s racial history that has been highlighted by the pandemic.”
The study revealed that eight per cent of white participants died whilst receiving care compared to 10 per cent of black participants.
Being a black patient in hospital with COVID-19 increases your chance of dying, with black people being 12.32% more likely to die after hospital care compared to 11.27% of white patients.
Fellow researcher Dr Rachel Werner said: “People often assume that Black-white differences in mortality are due to higher rates of chronic health conditions among Black individuals.
“But time and time again, research has shown that where Black patients get their care is much more important and that if you account for where people are hospitalized, differences in mortality vanish.”
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The race breakdown of coronavirus deaths indicate that black people make up 15% of the total but only form 12% of the American population.
The black community are also more likely to have conditions such as diabetes and often struggle to access healthcare services due to living in deprived areas.
Researcher Dr Nazmul Islam said: “Our analyses tell us that if Black patients went to the same hospitals white patients do and in the same proportions, we would see equal outcomes.”
The entire study has been published in the Journal of American Medical Association.
