ArticleArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2020
All-cause mortality supports the COVID-19 mortality in Belgium and comparison with major fatal events of the last century.
Article in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) excess mortality outcomes associated with pandemic effects study (COPES): A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- Pooled it
- 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
- Sustained excess all-cause mortality post COVID-19 in 21 countries: an ecological investigation.International journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- Unraveling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the mortality trends in Belgium between 2020-2022.BMC public health · 2024Article
- SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity in Nursing Home Staff and Residents during the First SARS-CoV-2 Wave in Flanders, Belgium.Viruses · 2024Article
- Magnitude and determinants of excess total, age-specific and sex-specific all-cause mortality in 24 countries worldwide during 2020 and 2021: results on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from the C-MOR project.BMJ global health · 2024Article
- Personal characteristics and transmission dynamics associated with SARS-CoV-2 semi-quantitative PCR test results: an observational study from Belgium, 2021-2022.Frontiers in public health · 2024Observational
- A scoping review on laboratory surveillance in the WHO Southeast Asia Region: Past, present and the future.Journal of global health · 2023Article
- Article
- The demographic and geographic impact of the COVID pandemic in Bulgaria and Eastern Europe in 2020.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Underestimation in Reporting Excess COVID-19 Death Data in Poland during the First Three Pandemic Waves.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- Analysis of Excess All-Cause Mortality and COVID-19 Mortality in Peru: Observational Study.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2022Article
- Pre-vaccination SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among staff and residents of nursing homes in Flanders (Belgium) in fall 2020.Epidemiology and infection · 2022Article
- COVID-19 mortality, excess mortality, deaths per million and infection fatality ratio, Belgium, 9 March 2020 to 28 June 2020.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2022Article
- COVID-19 and Mortality, Depression, and Suicide in the Polish Population.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Evaluating the impact of mobility in COVID-19 incidence and mortality: A case study from four states of Mexico.Frontiers in public health · 2022Article
- Belgium's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.Health economics, policy, and law · 2022Article
- Frailty but not sarcopenia nor malnutrition increases the risk of developing COVID-19 in older community-dwelling adults.Aging clinical and experimental research · 2022Article
- Establishing an ad hoc COVID-19 mortality surveillance during the first epidemic wave in Belgium, 1 March to 21 June 2020.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2021Article
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10 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundThe COVID-19 mortality rate in Belgium has been ranked among the highest in the world. To assess the appropriateness of the country's COVID-19 mortality surveillance, that includes long-term care facilities deaths and deaths in possible cases, the number of COVID-19 deaths was compared with the number of deaths from all-cause mortality. Mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic was also compared with historical mortality rates from the last century including those of the Spanish influenza pandemic.
methodsExcess mortality predictions and COVID-19 mortality data were analysed for the period March 10th to June 21st 2020. The number of COVID-19 deaths and the COVID-19 mortality rate per million were calculated for hospitals, nursing homes and other places of death, according to diagnostic status (confirmed/possible infection). To evaluate historical mortality, monthly mortality rates were calculated from January 1900 to June 2020.
resultsNine thousand five hundred ninety-one COVID-19 deaths and 39,076 deaths from all-causes were recorded, with a correlation of 94% (Spearman's rho, p < 0,01). During the period with statistically significant excess mortality (March 20th to April 28th; total excess mortality 64.7%), 7917 excess deaths were observed among the 20,159 deaths from all-causes. In the same period, 7576 COVID-19 deaths were notified, indicating that 96% of the excess mortality were likely attributable to COVID-19. The inclusion of deaths in nursing homes doubled the COVID-19 mortality rate, while adding deaths in possible cases increased it by 27%. Deaths in laboratory-confirmed cases accounted for 69% of total COVID-19-related deaths and 43% of in-hospital deaths. Although the number of deaths was historically high, the monthly mortality rate was lower in April 2020 compared to the major fatal events of the last century.
conclusionsTrends in all-cause mortality during the first wave of the epidemic was a key indicator to validate the Belgium's high COVID-19 mortality figures. A COVID-19 mortality surveillance limited to deaths from hospitalised and selected laboratory-confirmed cases would have underestimated the magnitude of the epidemic. Excess mortality, daily and monthly number of deaths in Belgium were historically high classifying undeniably the first wave of the COVID-19 epidemic as a fatal event.
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