Age and sex differences in cause-specific excess mortality and years of life lost associated with COVID-19 infection in the Swedish population
Journal article, 2023

Background Estimating excess mortality and years of life lost (YLL) attributed to coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) infection provides a comprehensive picture of the mortality burden on society. We aimed to estimate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on age- and sex-specific excess mortality and YLL in Sweden during the first 17 months of the pandemic. Methods In this population-based observational study, we calculated age- and sex-specific excess all-cause mortality and excess YLL during 2020 and the first 5 months of 2021 and cause-specific death [deaths from cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, other causes and deaths excluding COVID-19] in 2020 compared with an average baseline for 2017-19 in the whole Swedish population. Results COVID-19 deaths contributed 9.9% of total deaths (98 441 deaths, 960 305 YLL) in 2020, accounting for 75 151 YLL (7.7 YLL/death). There were 2672 (5.7%) and 1408 (3.0%) excess deaths, and 19 141 (3.8%) and 3596 (0.8%) excess YLL in men and women, respectively. Men aged 65-110 years and women aged 75-110 years were the greatest contributors. Fewer deaths and YLL from CVD, cancer and other causes were observed in 2020 compared with the baseline adjusted to the population size in 2020. Conclusions Compared with the baseline, excess mortality and YLL from all causes were experienced in Sweden during 2020, with a higher excess observed in men than in women, indicating that more men died at a younger age while more women died at older ages than expected. A notable reduction in deaths and YLL due to CVD suggests a displacement effect from CVD to COVID-19.

Author

Christina E. Lundberg

University of Gothenburg

Ailiana Santosa

University of Gothenburg

Jonas Bjork

Lund University

Skåne University Hospital

Maria Branden

Stockholm University

Linköping University

Ottmar Cronie

Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Applied Mathematics and Statistics

Martin Lindgren

University of Gothenburg

Jon Edqvist

University of Gothenburg

Maria Aberg

University of Gothenburg

Martin Adiels

University of Gothenburg

Annika Rosengren

University of Gothenburg

European Journal of Public Health

1101-1262 (ISSN) 1464-360X (eISSN)

Vol. 33 5 916-922

Subject Categories

Infectious Medicine

Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology

DOI

10.1093/eurpub/ckad086

PubMed

37263601

More information

Latest update

3/7/2024 9