Excess deaths associated with covid-19 pandemic in 2020: age and sex disaggregated time series analysis in 29 high income countries
Study reports ~1 million excess deaths occurred in 2020 in 29 high income countries. The five countries with highest absolute number of excess deaths were the US (458,000), Italy (89,100), England and Wales (85,400), Spain (84,100), and Poland (60,100).
Source:
British Medical Journal
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SPS commentary:
According to an editorial, these findings confirm the huge toll of the covid-19 pandemic on mortality in high income countries in 2020, but its full impact may not be apparent for many years, particularly in lower income countries where factors such as poverty, lack of vaccines, weak health systems, and high population density place people at increased risk from covid-19 and related harm. It notes in the UK, life expectancy in lower socioeconomic groups has fallen in recent years, an inequality likely to be exacerbated by the covid-19 pandemic, without concerted action. It adds that although mortality is a useful metric, policy informed by deaths alone overlooks what may become a huge burden of long term morbidity resulting from covid-19.