All the doctors dying are Asian - what’s going on?

[MMXVi]

And why is nobody asking questions about this?

I’m over-invested in the answer because my sister is a doctor very much on the frontline, and we’re of Indian ethnicity. I want her to be protected and if she’s facing some sort of additional genetic, behavioural or dietary risk I want that flagged up to her and other doctors PDQ, not to mention their patients of the same ethnicity.

If I see another glib and possibly slightly racist response about BAME people being poorer and therefore more prone to underlying conditions I’ll flip my lid totally by the way. There’s a world of difference between an Asian hospital consultant on £150k in stockbrokerville and someone Asian on the breadline in an overcrowded council flat, and it isn’t helpful to lump them together in this instance.

So far, I’ve seen a thread about Vitamin D3 deficiency making darker-skinned people more susceptible to respiratory illness. That makes sense to me, and I’ve already ordered some from Amazon for my sister as well as the rest of our family.

My mother (not medically qualified) has a touching belief in the anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic powers of turmeric so I’m making daal as we speak.

My dad (retired very senior doctor and the veteran of more than one pandemic) says probably multi-factorial, but as he’s currently recovering from cancer and therefore very high risk, I’m not going to make him elaborate.

Any other ideas and theories?

Anyone else concerned about why the press have neglected to mention this glaringly obvious information?

A programme likely to cover this well (don't know if they have already) would be 'More or Less' on R4.

I’ve read the news reports and it really saddened me that these medics devoted their lives to caring for people in a country that had undoubtedly shown them prejudice at some point.

I have no idea about the demographic and the reasons behind the number of deaths but I wanted to say I’m so sorry we couldn’t protect those who are caring for us. Breaks my heart.

What is the dosage for D3?

Don’t buy the vitamin D link as deficiency is now quite common across the population. 20% of adults are estimated to have low Vit D.

Quite a number of illnesses are more prevalent in certain racial groups than others.

I guess there must be a genetic or blood type link.

Are we sure that BAME are dying in higher proportion than white British doctors and nurses? In London, the epicentre of the virus, many doctors and nurses are BAME. I’m not sure the general population of London is majority white British anymore.

Assuming, they actually are over-represented in the COVID casualties, it won’t be for socio-economic reasons: the are highly educated professionals. Could it be based on diet or genetics? I have read that some blood types are more vulnerable.

Interesting to read about vit d...im white but two weeks ago pretty much decamped to the garden in the sun with dd whilst dh sat alone in a bedroom possibly with cv. Dd and i think had cv so mildly its not noticable but we be in the sun so loads of vit d. Dh was vvvv ill and only by ski. Of his teeth manged to avoid hospital. He recovering but still unwell with the effects.. lost of hearing, smell etc. Ill get him in the garden tomorrow. Tbh i think this shows how many doctors we have from different backgrounds and this benefits the nhs.

If anti inflammatory drugs are contraindicated then is it possible that turmeric could be bad too?

My neurologist is Indian, best doctor I ever had. The NHS has some fantastic doctors from all over the world and we should be doing all we can to protect them.

Everyone here saying 'all the doctors dying are asian', how does that tally with the deaths of doctors in Italy? Or China?

I'm really not buying into this for doctors, given where the outbreak is most severe..

For the general population I think it's other factors which we should be more concerned about.

Is it just Asian doctors or are Asians also highest within the numbers of deaths being reported generally? It would be interesting to see the ethnic breakdown among the daily deaths being reported.

From what I've heard done groups are ignoring forced closures to mosques and are still gathering in groups to pray. That along with living closely in multiple occupancy homes.

My friend who is very dark skinned has missed an entire term of university. A lot of her health problems stemmed from her vitamin D levels.

Everyone here saying 'all the doctors dying are asian', how does that tally with the deaths of doctors in Italy? Or China?

OP is referring to the U.K. Italy and China don’t have the same % of ethnic minorities working on medical front line.

I’m white. Diabetes runs on both sides of my family. Even people who stay quite thin in my family be PE diabetics around 50.

I’m in my late 40s and started really gaining weight. My metabolism just wouldn’t maintain homeostasis. I was frightened, and remembered having gestational diabetes. I controlled my blood sugar through cutting down drastically on carbs.

I’ve tried doing Keto sinc

...Keto since January. I’ve lost 6 kilos without calorie counting or being hungry. I feel a lot better generally.

there has been a suggestion that blood type may (possibly)be linked ie group A which apparently is more common amongst Asian community (though frequency of type 2 diabetes makes sense & isn't there a higher incidence of high cholesterol? increased heart disease/stroke etc)

This is only a theory (disclaimer) but have a family interest

So my point is, it sounds kookie but I think you could lower your risk factor within weeks if not days by going super low carb.

Turmeric is a spice and derived from a tuber with anti-inflammatory properties. It is non-steroidal, so okay to consume. AFAIK, there's nothing to suggest it could be anything but beneficial in normal quantities.

Another thing I was wondering about is increased viral load due to potentially working longer hours than people in similar roles who are white.

I don't have the data for doctors, but in the 2019 Royal College of Nursing survey, over half of BAME respondents said they worked 7+ additional hours per week, compared to only 21% of white respondents. I don't think the data is further subdivided to show the statistics on Asian nurses specifically, unfortunately.

They are about to discuss this in sky news now!!

I’m not dismissing this theory but if this was the case wouldn’t the Asian countries have higher cases/deaths in general?

I’ve been told that in New York a larger proportion of black and Hispanic people are also succumbing to CV-19.

If vitamin D deficiency is linked it might explain the higher death rate in care homes. Clearly they will have other health conditions but they won't be getting much sunlight.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/08/coronavirus-black-people-ethnic-minority-deaths-pandemic-inequality-afua-hirsch

Asks and flags similar questions.

I think the official Vitamin D and sun-protection advice we get, internationally, is clearly devised with default white skin in mind. Eg Ten minutes outdoors in Spring with your sleeves rolled up isn’t going to top up your Vitamin D sufficiently if you have natural melanin blocking the rays. I think, just as our perception of “skin coloured crayons” has slowly evolved, an awareness for different reactions to the sun is also needed.
I know somone who had TB in London and they were given super high Vit D doses and Vitamin C. Brown skin like mine.

I'm wondering about the combination of factors, as with many illness genetics and environment and both contribute, or a combination of factors,

e.g. in Italy there is high air pollution +generally elderly+living on close proximity to family+tactile nature of people in general.

And with ethnic / BAME cases perhaps could be genetics (ACE2?) +needing more vitamin D+ being frontline (medic with high viral load)- also stress in that role..

perhaps something like that, but yes it seems to be it is a vulnerability which needs protecting perhaps / shielding. Also with sunlight people with darker skins take hours longer to make the same (Vit D Council) so supplements might be better.

Just to note with blood group it is not just in BAME (group A) I'm group A and white (olive skin)