1. Racial and ethnic disparities in Lyme disease in the United States.
- Author
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Gould LH, Fathalla A, Moïsi JC, and Stark JH
- Subjects
- Animals, Humans, Ethnicity, Health Status Disparities, Incidence, United States epidemiology, White, Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, Black or African American, Lyme Disease epidemiology
- Abstract
Introduction: Lyme disease (LD), caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States. Although most surveillance-reported cases are in people who are White, data suggest worse outcomes among people from racial and ethnic minority groups., Methods: We conducted a systematic literature review to describe racial disparities in LD. We described the epidemiology of LD by race and ethnicity, including clinical presentation at diagnosis, and summarised the literature on knowledge, attitudes and practices related to LD and ticks by race and ethnicity., Results: Overall, the incidence and prevalence of LD were 1.2-3.5 times higher in White persons than in persons who identified as Asian or Pacific Islander and 4.5-6.3 times higher in White persons than in persons who identified as Black. Across multiple studies, people from racial and ethnic minority groups were more likely than White people to have disseminated manifestations of LD, including neurological manifestations and arthritis, and less likely to have erythema migrans. People from racial and ethnic minority groups were also more likely to report disease onset in the fall and less likely to report disease onset in the summer. Possible reasons for these disparities include lack of recognition of the disease in people with darker skin tones, lack of knowledge of disease risk for some groups and differences in exposure risk., Conclusions: Taken together, these results reinforce that all people residing in high-incidence areas are at risk of LD, regardless of race or ethnicity. Future prevention measures should be broadly targeted to reach all at-risk populations., (© 2024 The Authors. Zoonoses and Public Health published by Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)
- Published
- 2024
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