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Course: Assessment of Exposure to Environmental Toxins and Racial and Ethnic Disparities in COVID-19 Hospitalizations Among US Veterans

CME Credits: 1.00

Released: 2022-07-28

Residential neighborhood social factors associated with health play a role in the disproportionate impact of the COVID-19 pandemic among racial and ethnic minority populations. Exposure to environmental toxins has been understudied as a relevant neighborhood factor associated with health. Structural racism has relegated racial and ethnic minority populations to residential communities with higher, and multiple, risks of exposure to environmental toxins (eg, communities near industrial facilities). Although this exposure may be associated with increases in COVID-19–related comorbidities (eg, cancers),, which might explain some of the racial and ethnic disparities in outcomes, it is unknown whether exposure to environmental toxins is independently associated with increases in COVID-19 susceptibility. This cohort study examined the hypothesis that exposure to environmental toxins mediates the association of racial and ethnic disparities with hospitalizations among veterans with COVID-19 after accounting for individual-level risk factors and comorbidities.


Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article


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