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EXCESS MORTALITY FROM COVID-19. WEEKLY EXCESS DEATH RATES BY AGE AND SEX FOR SWEDEN AND ITS MOST AFFECTED REGION
- Source :
- The European Journal of Public Health
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- Oxford University Press, 2020.
-
Abstract
- Background Sweden has one of the highest numbers of COVID-19 deaths per inhabitant globally. However, absolute death counts can be misleading. Estimating age- and sex-specific mortality rates is necessary in order to account for the underlying population structure. Furthermore, given the difficulty of assigning causes of death, excess all-cause mortality should be estimated to assess the overall burden of the pandemic. Methods By estimating weekly age- and sex-specific death rates during 2020 and during the preceding 5 years, our aim is to get more accurate estimates of the excess mortality attributed to COVID-19 in Sweden, and in the most affected region Stockholm. Results Eight weeks after Sweden’s first confirmed case, the death rates at all ages above 60 were higher than for previous years. Persons above age 80 were disproportionally more affected, and men suffered greater excess mortality than women in ages up to 75 years. At older ages, the excess mortality was similar for men and women, with up to 1.5 times higher death rates for Sweden and up to 3 times higher for Stockholm. Life expectancy at age 50 declined by Conclusions The excess mortality has been high in older ages during the pandemic, but it remains to be answered if this is because of age itself being a prognostic factor or a proxy for comorbidity. Only monitoring deaths at a national level may hide the effect of the pandemic on the regional level.
- Subjects :
- sex differences
Adult
Male
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
Life expectancy
Original Manuscript
Age and sex
Global Health
03 medical and health sciences
0302 clinical medicine
Age Distribution
Cause of Death
Pandemic
medicine
Humans
AcademicSubjects/MED00860
AcademicSubjects/SOC01210
030212 general & internal medicine
Mortality
Sex Distribution
Pandemics
030304 developmental biology
Cause of death
Aged
Excess mortality
Sweden
Aged, 80 and over
0303 health sciences
business.industry
SARS-CoV-2
Mortality rate
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
COVID-19
Infant
Middle Aged
medicine.disease
Comorbidity
death rates
Ageing
Socioeconomic Factors
Child, Preschool
Female
business
AcademicSubjects/SOC02610
Demography
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1464360X and 11011262
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- The European Journal of Public Health
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....3f35105ce9bc9157d1b707715316d16b