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Authors controlled for age, sex. But I'd like to see additional control for race. Black people have less Vitamin D due to melanin blocking sunlight. And blac

Authors controlled for age, sex. But I'd like to see additional control for race. Black people have less Vitamin D due to melanin blocking sunlight. And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. So I'm now curious whether it's really Vitamin D deficiency that's causing the poor outcomes, or some racial socioeconomic factor that Vitamin D is simply a marker for.

alfalfasprout 6y ago
That's key. In fact, I've long postulated that helps explain some of the racial differences we've seen in COVID deaths.
DevX101 6y ago
Took a closer look at the study and the patient population was from a small town in Germany, Heidelberg. It'd probably be a fair guess that there's not a lot of variation in the patients' ethnicity so in this particular case controlling by race probably wasn't necessary. This observation makes me more confident Vitamin D plays a role. In any event, good to review studies for potential issues like this.
- MagnumOpus 6y ago
  > Heidelberg [...] not a lot of variation in the patients' ethnicity You'd be surprised. There might not be a lot of black people but Heidelberg is a university town and rather diverse. 27% are ethnic minorities, though only maybe 1% are black (4% Asian, 4% Russian/CIS, 3% southern Europe, 3% Turkey, 2% US-American, 2% Latin American, 2% Polish, 2% ex-Yugoslav)
UShouldBWorking 6y ago
Some very circumstantial evidence. I went to a black club 3 weeks ago for a night out. ( I know, stupid) 99% were not wearing masks and two days laters I stated feeling sick, was diagnosed with covid a week later.im better now but the black friend I went with last I heard was in the hospital.
55555 6y ago
> And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Isn't Africa doing surprisingly well?
- eganist 6y ago
  > Isn't Africa doing surprisingly well? Yeah, so this is a notable bit of nuance. Black people in Africa likely tend to get a bit more sun exposure compared to Black people in northern territories e.g. Europe, US, etc., so it wouldn't surprise me if Vitamin D deficiencies among Black people in the US and Europe are much more prevalent. https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2019/09/24/african-americans-at-greatest-risk-of-vitamin-d-deficiency https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2019/09/24/african-americans... Wouldn't surprise me if the same is true in southern India or other territories where melanin (genetic or otherwise) tracks with sun exposure.
- samatman 6y ago
  It's not that surprising. Africa has dramatically lower rates of obesity, a younger population, less asthma, less air conditioning, and as a sibling comment notes, the people get more sun exposure, hence Vitamin D. Everything we know to track with high mortality, Africa has less of. They also have very little testing, so the infection rate is unknown and somewhat irrelevant, since few people are ending up in hospitals and dying.
  - mixmastamyk 6y ago
    Not much of a winter either, besides South Africa. I wonder how rates were there this last August?
    - FreekNortier 6y ago
      High. This past winter here was one of the coldest ones in more than a decade. South Africa is also the only country in Africa(south of the Sahara) that really tests.
- corprew 6y ago
  In addition to what the peer comments say, Africa has learned a lot of lessons in fighting infection disease outbreaks from fighting Ebola: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7404531/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7404531/
MuffinFlavored 6y ago
> black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Serious question: I thought the African-America community in America was affected by COVID-19 disproportionately due to blacks being more likely to be having comorbidities. Is that not the case?
- bJGVygG7MQVF8c 6y ago
  That's likely also the case, but aside from the melanin-vitamin-d angle, there's been some work suggesting a genetic susceptibility to covid for people with significant recent SSA ancestry.
  - nradov 6y ago
    On the other hand it seems a major genetic risk factor for COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals, and that should be less common among Sub-Saharan Africans. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3
- alphabettsy 6y ago
  That was the case early on, but the demographics most affected are changing. There are probably many factors at play, but early on it was suggested that comorbidities and the higher proportion working in the service sector made black and Latino people overrepresented.
- throwawaysea 6y ago
  It probably is the case, but comorbidities are being ignored in favor of crisis-exploiting political narratives as to how systemic racism is causing disproportionate impact to African Americans. However, it is worth noting that comorbidities are also an issue more broadly across the entire American populace. Obesity rates are above 40%. And so is vitamin D deficiency. And in fact obesity worsens vitamin D deficiency (https://www.livescience.com/26961-obesity-causes-vitamin-d-deficiency.html https://www.livescience.com/26961-obesity-causes-vitamin-d-d...).
elcomet 6y ago
> And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Only on America. You say it like it's the case in the whole world.
- berryjerry 6y ago
  Precisely. Black is no more important than a descriptor than say eye color or hair color in relation to covid. The reality is black population in the US are more obese than the white population, which is a major comorbidity, hence the higher death rate from covid. Meanwhile in Africa there is a much lower death rate than blacks in the US, as well as a lower death rate than Americans as a whole.

alfalfasprout 6y ago

That's key. In fact, I've long postulated that helps explain some of the racial differences we've seen in COVID deaths.

DevX101 6y ago

Took a closer look at the study and the patient population was from a small town in Germany, Heidelberg. It'd probably be a fair guess that there's not a lot of variation in the patients' ethnicity so in this particular case controlling by race probably wasn't necessary. This observation makes me more confident Vitamin D plays a role. In any event, good to review studies for potential issues like this.

MagnumOpus 6y ago
> Heidelberg [...] not a lot of variation in the patients' ethnicity You'd be surprised. There might not be a lot of black people but Heidelberg is a university town and rather diverse. 27% are ethnic minorities, though only maybe 1% are black (4% Asian, 4% Russian/CIS, 3% southern Europe, 3% Turkey, 2% US-American, 2% Latin American, 2% Polish, 2% ex-Yugoslav)

UShouldBWorking 6y ago

Some very circumstantial evidence. I went to a black club 3 weeks ago for a night out. ( I know, stupid) 99% were not wearing masks and two days laters I stated feeling sick, was diagnosed with covid a week later.im better now but the black friend I went with last I heard was in the hospital.

55555 6y ago

> And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Isn't Africa doing surprisingly well?

eganist 6y ago
> Isn't Africa doing surprisingly well? Yeah, so this is a notable bit of nuance. Black people in Africa likely tend to get a bit more sun exposure compared to Black people in northern territories e.g. Europe, US, etc., so it wouldn't surprise me if Vitamin D deficiencies among Black people in the US and Europe are much more prevalent. https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2019/09/24/african-americans-at-greatest-risk-of-vitamin-d-deficiency https://www.cooperinstitute.org/2019/09/24/african-americans... Wouldn't surprise me if the same is true in southern India or other territories where melanin (genetic or otherwise) tracks with sun exposure.
samatman 6y ago
It's not that surprising. Africa has dramatically lower rates of obesity, a younger population, less asthma, less air conditioning, and as a sibling comment notes, the people get more sun exposure, hence Vitamin D. Everything we know to track with high mortality, Africa has less of. They also have very little testing, so the infection rate is unknown and somewhat irrelevant, since few people are ending up in hospitals and dying.
- mixmastamyk 6y ago
  Not much of a winter either, besides South Africa. I wonder how rates were there this last August?
  - FreekNortier 6y ago
    High. This past winter here was one of the coldest ones in more than a decade. South Africa is also the only country in Africa(south of the Sahara) that really tests.
corprew 6y ago
In addition to what the peer comments say, Africa has learned a lot of lessons in fighting infection disease outbreaks from fighting Ebola: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7404531/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7404531/

MuffinFlavored 6y ago

> black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Serious question: I thought the African-America community in America was affected by COVID-19 disproportionately due to blacks being more likely to be having comorbidities. Is that not the case?

bJGVygG7MQVF8c 6y ago
That's likely also the case, but aside from the melanin-vitamin-d angle, there's been some work suggesting a genetic susceptibility to covid for people with significant recent SSA ancestry.
- nradov 6y ago
  On the other hand it seems a major genetic risk factor for COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals, and that should be less common among Sub-Saharan Africans. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2818-3
alphabettsy 6y ago
That was the case early on, but the demographics most affected are changing. There are probably many factors at play, but early on it was suggested that comorbidities and the higher proportion working in the service sector made black and Latino people overrepresented.
throwawaysea 6y ago
It probably is the case, but comorbidities are being ignored in favor of crisis-exploiting political narratives as to how systemic racism is causing disproportionate impact to African Americans. However, it is worth noting that comorbidities are also an issue more broadly across the entire American populace. Obesity rates are above 40%. And so is vitamin D deficiency. And in fact obesity worsens vitamin D deficiency (https://www.livescience.com/26961-obesity-causes-vitamin-d-deficiency.html https://www.livescience.com/26961-obesity-causes-vitamin-d-d...).

elcomet 6y ago

> And black people are disproportionately impacted by COVID. Only on America. You say it like it's the case in the whole world.

berryjerry 6y ago
Precisely. Black is no more important than a descriptor than say eye color or hair color in relation to covid. The reality is black population in the US are more obese than the white population, which is a major comorbidity, hence the higher death rate from covid. Meanwhile in Africa there is a much lower death rate than blacks in the US, as well as a lower death rate than Americans as a whole.