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Volume 31, Number 10—October 2025
Research
Differences in COVID-19 Fatality Rates among Ethnic Groups, Hawaii, USA, 2020–2022
Gehan Devendra
, Madeleine Chai, Eyrica Sumida, Richard Chen, Maan Gozun, Dominic Chow, and F. DeWolfe Miller
, Madeleine Chai, Eyrica Sumida, Richard Chen, Maan Gozun, Dominic Chow, and F. DeWolfe Miller
Table
Clinical characteristics and underlying conditions in a study of differences in COVID-19 fatality rates among ethnic groups, Hawaii, USA, 2020–2022*
| Characteristics | Total | Race or ethnicity |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black | Chinese | Filipino | Native Hawaiian | Japanese | Other Asian | Other ethnicity | Pacific Islander | White | ||
| Total no. |
5,494 (100) |
105 (2) |
292 (5) |
1,379 (25) |
733 (13) |
523 (10) |
226 (4) |
181 (3) |
935 (17) |
1,120 (20) |
| Sex | ||||||||||
| M | 3,036 (55) | 66 (63) | 163 (56) | 806 (58) | 370 (51) | 278 (53) | 108 (48) | 101 (56) | 496 (53) | 648 (58) |
| F |
2,458 (45) |
39 (37) |
129 (44) |
573 (42) |
363 (49) |
245 (47) |
118 (52) |
80 (44) |
439 (47) |
472 (42) |
| Mean age, y |
59.3 |
50.9 |
64.3 |
62.5 |
54.2 |
69.8 |
60.4 |
52.3 |
52.1 |
60.1 |
| No. deaths | 612 (11) | 5 (5) | 46 (16) | 175 (13) | 79 (11) | 67 (13) | 36 (16) | 15 (8) | 96 (10) | 93 (8) |
| Fatality rate, %† |
11.1 |
4.8 |
15.8 |
12.7 |
10.8 |
12.8 |
15.9 |
8.3 |
10.3 |
8.3 |
| Underlying conditions | ||||||||||
| Diabetes | 1,801 (33) | 19 (18) | 89 (31) | 485 (35) | 263 (36) | 176 (34) | 70 (31) | 51 (28) | 421 (45) | 227 (20) |
| Hypertension | 2,348 (43) | 36 (34) | 122 (42) | 675 (49) | 336 (46) | 248 (47) | 80 (35) | 54 (30) | 407 (44) | 390 (35) |
| Atrial fibrillation | 505 (9) | 6 (6) | 31 (11) | 138 (10) | 83 (11) | 48 (9) | 8 (4) | 8 (4) | 63 (7) | 120 (11) |
| CHF | 750 (14) | 10 (10) | 36 (12) | 182 (13) | 149 (20) | 71 (14) | 21 (9) | 6 (3) | 132 (14) | 143 (13) |
| Obesity | 1,974 (36) | 34 (32) | 70 (24) | 315 (23) | 381 (52) | 101 (14) | 36 (16) | 61 (34) | 596 (64) | 380 (34) |
| Malignancy | 43 (0.7) | 2 (1.9) | 2 (0.7) | 8 (0.6) | 6 (0.8) | 8 (1.5) | 2 (0.9) | 1 (0.5) | 4 (0.4) | 10 (0.9) |
*Values are no. (%) except as indicated. CHF, congestive heart failure. †Calculated by dividing the number of deaths by the total number of patients per group, then multiplying by 100. ‡Considered body mass index >30.
Page created: August 19, 2025
Page updated: September 11, 2025
Page reviewed: September 11, 2025
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