SynthesisEuropean journal of epidemiology2020
Assessing the age specificity of infection fatality rates for COVID-19: systematic review, meta-analysis, and public policy implications.
Synthesis in European journal of epidemiology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 482 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
482 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 890 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- ABO and Rh blood groups and risk of infection: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- Dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 seroassay sensitivity: a systematic review and modelling study.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2023Pooled it
- Age-stratified infection fatality rate of COVID-19 in the non-elderly population.Environmental research · 2023Pooled it
- Attitudes of COVID-19 vaccination among college students: A systematic review and meta-analysis of willingness, associated determinants, and reasons for hesitancy.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2022Pooled it
- Recent Advance Analysis of Recovery in Hospitalized People with COVID-19: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Efficacy of a bivalent (D614 + B.1.351) SARS-CoV-2 recombinant protein vaccine with AS03 adjuvant in adults: a phase 3, parallel, randomised, modified double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.The Lancet. Respiratory medicine · 2023Trial
- Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-containing plasma improves outcome in patients with hematologic or solid cancer and severe COVID-19: a randomized clinical trial.Nature cancer · 2023Trial
- Agreement between seroprevalence- and model-based estimates of COVID-19 burden.Global health action · 2026Article
- Pre-vaccine sentinel antibodies predict blunted vaccine responses.Cell press blue · 2026Article
- Factors influencing hand hygiene compliance among elderly caregivers: based on the theory of planned behavior.Journal of exercise rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Changes in hand hygiene compliance and technique among non-healthcare professionals in a tertiary-care hospital: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2026Article
- Xenosialylation as immunological chimerism: a host-centered unifying model for viral and post-vaccination immune complications.European cytokine network · 2026Review
- Using forensic autopsy data to estimate the age-specific infection fatality risk of COVID-19.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Article
- Lifestyle and health behaviour changes of ageing Finnish women during early COVID-19 restrictions.Scandinavian journal of public health · 2026Article
- The intersection of health inequalities and COVID-19: Evidence from National Health Insurance Big Data in South Korea.American journal of community psychology · 2026Article
- Combinatorial analysis of clinical and genomic data used to assess the association between SARS-CoV-2 mutations and disease severity.PNAS nexus · 2026Article
- Assessing the Impact of Timing and Coverage of United States COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns: A Multi-Model Approach.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2026Article
- A Longitudinal Exploratory Study of SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Dynamics in Young Adults in Bogotá: Lessons from Natural Infection and Post-Vaccination Memory.Biomedicines · 2026Article
- Estimating the incidence of SARS-CoV-2 infections by jointly modelling seroprevalence, hospitalization and mortality data, February 2020 - January 2021, Belgium.Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique · 2026Article
422 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Determine age-specific infection fatality rates for COVID-19 to inform public health policies and communications that help protect vulnerable age groups. Studies of COVID-19 prevalence were collected by conducting an online search of published articles, preprints, and government reports that were publicly disseminated prior to 18 September 2020. The systematic review encompassed 113 studies, of which 27 studies (covering 34 geographical locations) satisfied the inclusion criteria and were included in the meta-analysis. Age-specific IFRs were computed using the prevalence data in conjunction with reported fatalities 4 weeks after the midpoint date of the study, reflecting typical lags in fatalities and reporting. Meta-regression procedures in Stata were used to analyze the infection fatality rate (IFR) by age. Our analysis finds a exponential relationship between age and IFR for COVID-19. The estimated age-specific IFR is very low for children and younger adults (e.g., 0.002% at age 10 and 0.01% at age 25) but increases progressively to 0.4% at age 55, 1.4% at age 65, 4.6% at age 75, and 15% at age 85. Moreover, our results indicate that about 90% of the variation in population IFR across geographical locations reflects differences in the age composition of the population and the extent to which relatively vulnerable age groups were exposed to the virus. These results indicate that COVID-19 is hazardous not only for the elderly but also for middle-aged adults, for whom the infection fatality rate is two orders of magnitude greater than the annualized risk of a fatal automobile accident and far more dangerous than seasonal influenza. Moreover, the overall IFR for COVID-19 should not be viewed as a fixed parameter but as intrinsically linked to the age-specific pattern of infections. Consequently, public health measures to mitigate infections in older adults could substantially decrease total deaths.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.