Excess Deaths During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Southern Iran : Estimating the Absolute Count and Relative Risk Using Ecological Data

OBJECTIVES: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to increased mortality rates. To assess this impact, this ecological study aimed to estimate the excess death counts in southern Iran.

METHODS: The study obtained weekly death counts by linking the National Death Registry and Medical Care Monitoring Center repositories. The P-score was initially estimated using a simple method that involved calculating the difference between the observed and expected death counts. The interrupted time series analysis was then used to calculate the mean relative risk (RR) of death during the first year of the pandemic.

RESULTS: Our study found that there were 5571 excess deaths from all causes (P-score=33.29%) during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with 48.03% of these deaths directly related to COVID-19. The pandemic was found to increase the risk of death from all causes (RR, 1.26; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19 to 1.33), as well as in specific age groups such as those aged 35-49 (RR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.32), 50-64 (RR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.28 to 1.49), and ≥65 (RR, 1.29; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.32) years old. Furthermore, there was an increased risk of death from cardiovascular diseases (RR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.11 to 1.22).

CONCLUSIONS: There was a 26% increase in the death count in southern Iran during the COVID-19 pandemic. More than half of these excess deaths were not directly related to COVID-19, but rather other causes, with cardiovascular diseases being a major contributor.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:57

Enthalten in:

Journal of preventive medicine and public health = Yebang Uihakhoe chi - 57(2024), 2 vom: 27. März, Seite 120-127

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Zakeri, Mohammadreza [VerfasserIn]
Mirahmadizadeh, Alireza [VerfasserIn]
Azarbakhsh, Habibollah [VerfasserIn]
Dehghani, Seyed Sina [VerfasserIn]
Janfada, Maryam [VerfasserIn]
Moradian, Mohammad Javad [VerfasserIn]
Moftakhar, Leila [VerfasserIn]
Sharafi, Mehdi [VerfasserIn]
Heiran, Alireza [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

COVID-19
Excess mortality
Journal Article
SARS-CoV-2

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 08.04.2024

Date Revised 10.04.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.3961/jpmph.23.198

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM368647692