Minority ethnic people bore a disproportionate burden of poor mental health during the pandemic

A new study published in an open-access journal has indicated that Black and minority ethnic people have bore a disproportionate burden of the impact of the pandemic on mental health. The study spanned across two prominent institutions either side of the Atlantic, Harvard Medical School and Kings College London.

Written by Bryony Porteous-Sebouhian

A burden rooted in inequality

Early on during the Covid-19 pandemic it was established that minorities were bearing the brunt of infections, more severe presentations of the disease, more hospitalisations and even more deaths. This number was vastly disproportionate to the number of those minorities in the wider population and in comparison to non-Hispanic whites.

Since then, a three-fold increase in reports of depressive symptoms in the wider population has also emerged.

However, until now, this information about the wider population hasn’t been able to isolate the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Black and minority ethnic people specifically.

This latest study, published in PLOS ONE, used data on 691,473 people in US and UK from a smartphone-based Covid Symptom Study that ran from January 23rd 2021, to June 9th 2021. All the participants in the study were recruited through social media advertisements and reported information and daily symptoms and long-lasting effects, as well as Covid-19 results through the Zoe app.

Researchers isolated any anxiety and depressive symptoms by using two different screening tools designed to identify the presence of and measure the severity of symptoms.

What did the cross Atlantic study find?

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Kings College London found that, after ruling out factors such as prior mental ill-health and changes in life-factors such as leisure time activities, Black and Asian participants were far more likely to be experiencing poor mental health post-pandemic than White people.

In the US:

• Black participants were 1.16 times more likely to screen positive for depression than white participants.
• Compared to White participants, Hispanic participants in the U.S were 1.23 times more likely to screen positive for depression and 1.23 times more likely to present anxiety symptoms.

In the UK:

• Researchers found ‘comparably elevated odds of a positive depression screen among racial and ethnic minorities living in the UK’ when compared to white people.
• South Asian and Middle East/East Asian participants more frequently screened positive for anxiety than White people.
• Black healthcare workers had higher odds of depression and anxiety than While healthcare workers.

Both in the US and UK, researchers found that certain areas were hit harder. For the US, the Northeast, South and West showed particularly high-risk of depressive and anxiety symptoms. For the UK, Wales was disproportionately affected by the pandemic, especially when considering its population in comparison to England, and Scotland.

Does this show that the long-term impact of the pandemic reflects social determinants in our society?

The authors of the study have concluded that minority communities across the US and UK have been disproportionately impacted by the mental health fallout of Covid-19, and they also predict the affected populations will likely suffer well beyond the ‘end’ of the pandemic, whenever that may be.

In the study, the authors noted:

“Racial and ethnic minorities face significant challenges related to the diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders in the U.S. and the U.K. including poor access to mental healthcare services due to structural inequities and systematic disinvestment within minority communities.”

The authors also acknowledge that “perceived discrimination is also associated with negative mental health outcomes for minorities in both the U.S. and the U.K., while the considerable stigma surrounding mental illness has been long-established among Black and Hispanic populations.”

Speaking to ScienceDaily, the authors have added:

“The early phase of COVID-19 pandemic was incredibly disruptive to everyday life. We found that racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S. and U.K. were more likely to screen positive for depression and anxiety. This suggests a disproportionate impact and mental health burden on persons of color, which need to be considered as we reshape health care systems to prioritize the long-term consequences of this disease.”