Race-based data collection among COVID-19 inpatients: A retrospective chart review

Public health data have demonstrated disproportionate COVID-19 morbidity and mortality among racialized populations. However, limited hospital data may prevent research into racial disproportionality among inpatients. We conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients admitted with or without COVID-19 to an Ontario tertiary hospital between March and October 2020 to determine the percentage of inpatients with a formal race or ethnicity assessment in their medical record. The COVID-19 group included inpatients with concurrent COVID-19 positivity; the reference group included a random sample of General Medicine inpatients without COVID-19. We reviewed 80 patients with COVID-19 and 80 patients without COVID-19. Formal ethnicity assessments were recorded among 44% of the COVID-19 group and 49% of the reference group. Race and ethnicity data collection was less than 50% among inpatients with and without COVID-19 in one Ontario hospital. Adequate data collection is necessary to study racial health disparities in the hospital setting.