Disparities in Vulnerability to Severe Complications from COVID-19 in the United States / Emily E. Wiemers, Scott Abrahams, Marwa AlFakhri, V. Joseph Hotz, Robert F. Schoeni, Judith A. Seltzer.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Wiemers, Emily E.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Abrahams, Scott.

AlFakhri, Marwa.

Hotz, V. Joseph.

Schoeni, Robert F.

Seltzer, Judith A.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w27294.

NBER working paper series no. w27294

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2020.

Summary:

This paper provides the first nationally representative estimates of vulnerability to severe com-plications from COVID-19 overall and across race-ethnicity and socioeconomic status. We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to examine the prevalence of specific health condi-tions associated with complications from COVID-19 and to calculate, for each individual, an index of the risk of severe complications from respiratory infections developed by DeCaprio et al. (2020). We show large disparities across race-ethnicity and socioeconomic status in the prev-alence of conditions which are associated with the risk of severe complications from COVID-19. Moreover, we show that these disparities emerge early in life, prior to age 65, leading to higher vulnerability to such complications. While vulnerability is highest among older adults regardless of their race-ethnicity or socioeconomic status, our results suggest particular attention should also be given to the risk of adverse outcomes in midlife for non-Hispanic Blacks, adults with a high school degree or less, and low-income Americans.

Notes:

Print version record

June 2020.