Volume 29, Number 11—November 2023
Dispatch
Racial and Socioeconomic Equity of Tecovirimat Treatment during the 2022 Mpox Emergency, New York, New York, USA
, Ned H. Latham1, Pui Ying Chan, Mary M.K. Foote, Elizabeth A. Garcia, Matthew F. Silverstein, Marcia Wong, Mark Alexander, Karen A. Alroy, Lovedeep Bajaj, Kuan Chen, James Steele Howard, Lucretia E. Jones, Ellen H. Lee, Julian L. Watkins, and Tristan D. McPherson
Table
Characteristics of persons with mpox according to treatment status in study of racial and socioeconomic equity of tecovirimat treatment during 2022 mpox emergency, New York City, New York, USA, May 19, 2022–October 29, 2022*
| Characteristics | Overall | Tecovirimat treatment | No treatment | p value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total no. persons |
3,740 (100) |
1,213 (32.4) |
2,527 (67.6) |
NA |
| Median age (IQR) |
35 (12) |
36 (11) |
35 (12) |
ND |
| Mean age (SD) |
37 (9.4) |
37 (9) |
36 (9.5) |
0.004 |
| Age groups, y | <0.001 | |||
| 0–24 | 255 (6.8) | 55 (4.5) | 200 (7.9) | |
| 25–34 | 1,527 (40.8) | 471 (38.8) | 1,056 (41.8) | |
| 35–44 | 1,265 (33.8) | 449 (37.0) | 816 (32.3) | |
| 45–54 | 507 (13.6) | 177 (14.6) | 330 (13.1) | |
| 55–64 | 166 (4.4) | 55 (4.5) | 111 (4.4) | |
| >65 |
20 (0.5) |
6 (0.5) |
14 (0.6) |
|
| Gender† | 0.01 | |||
| Men | 3,516 (94.2) | 1,133 (93.5) | 2,383 (94.6) | |
| Nonbinary/gender queer | 52 (1.4) | 22 (1.8) | 30 (1.2) | |
| Transgender men or women | 70 (1.9) | 33 (2.7) | 37 (1.5) | |
| Women | 93 (2.5) | 24 (2.0) | 69 (2.7) | |
| Unknown |
9 |
1 |
8 |
|
| Sexual orientation | <0.001 | |||
| LGBQ+ | 2,409 (64.4) | 857 (70.7) | 1,552 (61.4) | |
| Straight | 296 (7.9) | 61 (5.0) | 235 (9.3) | |
| Unknown‡ |
1,035 (27.7) |
295 (24.3) |
740 (29.3) |
|
| Race/ethnicity§ | <0.001 | |||
| Asian/Pacific Islander/other | 196 (5.2) | 59 (4.9) | 137 (5.4) | |
| Black/African American | 1,017 (27.2) | 318 (26.2) | 699 (27.7) | |
| Hispanic/Latino | 1,294 (34.6) | 400 (33.0) | 894 (35.4) | |
| White | 847 (22.7) | 329 (27.1) | 518 (20.5) | |
| Unknown‡ |
386 (10.3) |
107 (8.8) |
279 (11.0) |
|
| Borough of residence | <0.001 | |||
| Bronx | 729 (19.5) | 259 (21.4) | 470 (18.6) | |
| Brooklyn | 888 (23.7) | 299 (24.6) | 589 (23.3) | |
| Manhattan | 1,480 (39.5) | 504 (41.5) | 976 (38.7) | |
| Queens | 596 (15.9) | 139 (11.5) | 457 (18.1) | |
| Staten Island | 45 (1.2) | 12 (1.0) | 33 (1.3) | |
| Unknown |
2 |
0 |
2 |
|
| Neighborhood poverty level¶ | 0.53 | |||
| Low | 579 (15.5) | 177 (14.6) | 402 (16.0) | |
| Medium | 1588 (42.6) | 508 (41.9) | 1080 (42.9) | |
| High | 894 (24.0) | 303 (25.0) | 591 (23.5) | |
| Very High | 668 (17.9) | 223 (18.4) | 445 (17.7) | |
| Unknown# | 11 | 2 | 9 | |
*Values are no. (%) except as indicated. IQR, interquartile range; LGBQ, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and queer; NA, not applicable; ND, not done. †Gender categories are provided as defined by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. ‡Because of a substantial number of persons who had unknown sexual orientation or race/ethnicity, those persons were included as a separate category in the χ2 test. For other characteristics, people with unknown values were excluded from χ2 test. §All persons who identified as Hispanic or Latino (Hispanic), regardless of race, were classified as Hispanic; all other race/ethnicity categories were non-Hispanic. ¶Neighborhood poverty level was defined as the percentage of residents in a postal (ZIP) code tabulation area with household incomes of <100% of the federal poverty level according to the American Community Survey 2016–2020 (https://www.census.gov). Neighborhoods were categorized into 4 groups: low poverty, <10% of population; medium, 10%–19.9%; high, 20%–29.9%; and very high, >30%. #Unknown because of missing residential or invalid New York ZIP code.
1These first authors contributed equally to this article.