On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?

ObjectiveTo quantify the (direct and indirect) impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality for actual populations of persons living in 12 European countries in 2020.MethodBased on demographic and mortality data, as well as remaining life expectancies found in the Human Mortality Database, we calcu...

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Main Authors: Valentin Rousson, Isabella Locatelli
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-11-01
Series:Frontiers in Public Health
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1015501/full
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author Valentin Rousson
Isabella Locatelli
author_facet Valentin Rousson
Isabella Locatelli
author_sort Valentin Rousson
collection DOAJ
description ObjectiveTo quantify the (direct and indirect) impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality for actual populations of persons living in 12 European countries in 2020.MethodBased on demographic and mortality data, as well as remaining life expectancies found in the Human Mortality Database, we calculated a “population life loss” in 2020 for men and women living in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This quantity was obtained by dividing the total number of years lost in 2020 (estimated from all-cause mortality data and attributed directly or indirectly to COVID-19) by the size of the population.ResultsA significant population life loss was found in 8 countries in 2020, with men losing an average of 8.7, 5.0, 4.4, 4.0, 3.7, 3.4, 3.1, and 2.7 days in Lithuania, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden, respectively. For women, this loss was 5.5, 4.3, 3.7, 3.7, 3.1, 2.4, 1.6, and 1.4 days, respectively. No significant losses were found in Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Norway. Life loss was highly dependent on age, reaching 40 days at the age of 90 in some countries, while only a few significant losses occurred under the age of 60. Even in countries with a significant population life loss in 2020, it was on average about 30 times lower than in 1918, at the time of the Spanish flu.ConclusionsOur results based on the concept of population life loss were consistent with those based on the classical concept of life expectancy, confirming the significant impact of COVID-19 on mortality in 8 European countries in 2020. However, while life expectancy losses were typically counted in months or years, population life losses could be counted in days, a potentially useful piece of information from a public health perspective.
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spelling doaj.art-88ad68c0c9f748de9bdfeadee43885f12023-03-09T08:22:36ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Public Health2296-25652022-11-011010.3389/fpubh.2022.10155011015501On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?Valentin RoussonIsabella LocatelliObjectiveTo quantify the (direct and indirect) impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality for actual populations of persons living in 12 European countries in 2020.MethodBased on demographic and mortality data, as well as remaining life expectancies found in the Human Mortality Database, we calculated a “population life loss” in 2020 for men and women living in Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. This quantity was obtained by dividing the total number of years lost in 2020 (estimated from all-cause mortality data and attributed directly or indirectly to COVID-19) by the size of the population.ResultsA significant population life loss was found in 8 countries in 2020, with men losing an average of 8.7, 5.0, 4.4, 4.0, 3.7, 3.4, 3.1, and 2.7 days in Lithuania, Spain, Belgium, Hungary, Croatia, Portugal, Switzerland, and Sweden, respectively. For women, this loss was 5.5, 4.3, 3.7, 3.7, 3.1, 2.4, 1.6, and 1.4 days, respectively. No significant losses were found in Finland, Luxembourg, Denmark and Norway. Life loss was highly dependent on age, reaching 40 days at the age of 90 in some countries, while only a few significant losses occurred under the age of 60. Even in countries with a significant population life loss in 2020, it was on average about 30 times lower than in 1918, at the time of the Spanish flu.ConclusionsOur results based on the concept of population life loss were consistent with those based on the classical concept of life expectancy, confirming the significant impact of COVID-19 on mortality in 8 European countries in 2020. However, while life expectancy losses were typically counted in months or years, population life losses could be counted in days, a potentially useful piece of information from a public health perspective.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1015501/fullall-cause mortalityCOVID-19life expectancypopulation life lossremaining life expectancyyears lost
spellingShingle Valentin Rousson
Isabella Locatelli
On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
Frontiers in Public Health
all-cause mortality
COVID-19
life expectancy
population life loss
remaining life expectancy
years lost
title On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
title_full On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
title_fullStr On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
title_full_unstemmed On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
title_short On the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality: Lost years or lost days?
title_sort on the impacts of the covid 19 pandemic on mortality lost years or lost days
topic all-cause mortality
COVID-19
life expectancy
population life loss
remaining life expectancy
years lost
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1015501/full
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