Excess non-COVID-19 mortality in Norway 2020-2022

© 2024. The Author(s)..

BACKGROUND: Causes of death other than COVID-19 seem to contribute significantly to the excess mortality observed during the 2020-2022 pandemic. In this study, we explore changes in non-COVID-19 causes of death in Norway during the COVID-19 pandemic from March 2020 to December 2022.

METHODS: We performed a population-based cross-sectional study on data from the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry. All recorded deaths from 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2022 were included. The main outcome measures were the number of deaths and age-standardised death rate (ASMR) per 100000 population from the major cause of death groups in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The predicted number of deaths and ASMRs were forecasted with a 95% prediction interval constructed from a general linear regression model based on the corresponding number of deaths and rates from the preceding ten prepandemic years (2010-2019). We also examined whether there were deviations from expected seasonality in the pandemic period based on prepandemic monthly data from 2010-2019. The cumulative number of deaths and ASMR were estimated based on monthly mortality data.

RESULTS: There was significant excess mortality (number of deaths) in 2021 and 2022 for all causes (3.7% and 14.5%), for cardiovascular diseases (14.3% and 22.0%), and for malignant tumours in 2022 (3.5%). In terms of ASMR, there was excess mortality in 2021 and 2022 for all causes (2.9% and 13.7%), and for cardiovascular diseases (16.0% and 25,8%). ASMR was higher than predicted in 2022 for malignant tumours (2.3%). There were fewer deaths than predicted from respiratory diseases (except COVID-19) in 2020 and 2021, and from dementia in 2021 and 2022. From March 2020 to December 2022, there were cumulatively 3754 (ASMR 83.8) more non-COVID-19 deaths than predicted, of which 3453 (ASMR: 79.6) were excess deaths from cardiovascular disease, 509 (ASMR 4.0) from malignant tumours. Mortality was lower than predicted for respiratory diseases (-1889 (ASMR: -44.3)), and dementia (-530 (ASMR -18.5)).

CONCLUSIONS: There was considerable excess non-COVID-19 mortality in Norway from March 2020 until December 2022, mainly due to excess cardiovascular deaths. For respiratory diseases and dementia, mortality was lower than predicted.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:24

Enthalten in:

BMC public health - 24(2024), 1 vom: 22. Jan., Seite 244

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Raknes, Guttorm [VerfasserIn]
Fagerås, Stephanie Jebsen [VerfasserIn]
Sveen, Kari Anne [VerfasserIn]
Júlíusson, Pétur Benedikt [VerfasserIn]
Strøm, Marianne Sørlie [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

COVID-19
Cause of death
Journal Article
Mortality
Norway
Norwegian cause of death registry
Pandemic
Register study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 24.01.2024

Date Revised 09.02.2024

published: Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1186/s12889-023-17515-5

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM367445522