Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33521739›Full record

ArticlePublic health in practice (Oxford, England)2021

Population perspective comparing COVID-19 to all and common causes of death during the first wave of the pandemic in seven European countries.

Bayanne Olabi, Jayshree Bagaria, Sunil S Bhopal, Gwenetta D Curry, Nazmy Villarroel, Raj Bhopal

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Public health in practice (Oxford, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
1.3field-weighted citation impact, top 17% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 16 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Caring for older adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases · 2022
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Bayanne OlabiBiosciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
Jayshree BagariaIndependent Consultant in Global Public Health, UK.
Sunil S BhopalPopulation Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, UK.
Gwenetta D CurryUsher Institute, University of Edinburgh, EH3 9AG, UK.
Nazmy VillarroelUniversity of Sheffield, S10 2TG, UK.
Raj BhopalUsher Institute, University of Edinburgh, EH3 9AG, UK.
Newcastle University · GBUniversity of Edinburgh · GBUniversity of Sheffield · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesMortality statistics on the COVID-19 pandemic have led to widespread concern and fear. To contextualise these data, we compared mortality related to COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic across seven countries in Europe with all and common causes of death, stratifying by age and sex. We also calculated deaths as a proportion of the population by age and sex. STUDY

designAnalysis of population mortality data.

methodsCOVID-19 related mortality and population statistics from seven European countries were extracted: England and Wales, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Portugal and Netherlands. Available data spanned 14-16 weeks since the first recorded deaths in each country, except Spain, where only comparable stratified data over an 8-week time period was available. The Global Burden of Disease database provided data on all deaths and those from pneumonia, cardiovascular disease combining ischaemic heart disease and stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer, road traffic accidents and dementia in 2017.

resultsDeaths related to COVID-19, while modest overall, varied considerably by age. Deaths as a percentage of all cause deaths during the time period under study ranged from <0.01% in children in Germany, Portugal and Netherlands, to as high as 41.65% for men aged over 80 years in England and Wales. The percentage of the population who died from COVID-19 was less than 0.2% in every age group under the age of 80. In each country, over the age of 80, these proportions were: England and Wales 1.27% males, 0.87% females; Italy 0.6% males, 0.38% females; Germany 0.13% males, 0.09% females; France 0.39% males, 0.2% females; Portugal 0.2% males, 0.15% females; and Netherlands 0.6% males, 0.4% females.

conclusionsMortality rates from COVID-19 during the first wave of the pandemic were low including when compared to other common causes of death and are likely to decline further while control measures are maintained, treatments improve and vaccination is instituted. These data may help people to contextualise their risk and for decision-making by policymakers.

Indexed as

AgeCOVID-19MortalityPopulationSexStratification

Identifiers

PMID33521739
PMCPMC7836528
OpenAlexW3120259006

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.