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- Racism and healthWe read with interest the article by Paramjit Gill and Virinder Kalra, “Racism and health”.1 The authors discussed the impact of COVID-19 pandemic experienced by people from black, Asian and minor ethnic (BAME) backgrounds, emphasizing the issue of excess mortality within the BAME community.According to the authors, the reason for this disproportionate mortality is due to rampant structural racism. Data from the United States reveal that the mortality rate for black Americans is 2.7 times greater than the white population and this highlights the common issue shared by the two nations.2 Another study also revealed that black babies are more likely to survive when they are treated by black doctors.3 These results acknowledge the prevalence of structural racism as a cause of disproportionate mortality.Although the authors were right to say that structural racism should not be ignored, it is equally important to acknowledge the weight of epidemiological and physiological risk factors that contribute to their increased mortality. For instance, certain groups of the BAME community have 6 times the risk of diabetes compared to other groups.4 Diabetes has been well-established as a comorbidity that worsens complications from the SARS-CoV-2 viral infection and is a factor among others that plays a role in the disproportionate BAME morta...Competing Interests: None declared.