Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33687922›Full record

ArticleBMJ (Clinical research ed.)2021

Risk of mortality in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern 202012/1: matched cohort study.

Robert Challen, Ellen Brooks-Pollock, Jonathan M Read, Louise Dyson, Krasimira Tsaneva-Atanasova, Leon Danon

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in BMJ (Clinical research ed.), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 469 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
469citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

469 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Safety and Efficacy of the NVX-CoV2373 Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccine at Completion of the Placebo-Controlled Phase of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2023
    Trial
  8. Article
  9. [Performance of prognostic scores during the first and second waves of COVID-19 pneumonia]Revista de la Facultad de Ciencias Medicas (Cordoba, Argentina) · 2026
    Article
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  18. Quasi-species prevalence and clinical impact of evolving SARS-CoV-2 lineages in European COVID-19 cohorts, January 2020 to February 2022.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2025
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409 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Robert ChallenCollege of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK rc538@exeter.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0002-5504-7768
Ellen Brooks-PollockJoint Universities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER consortium).ORCID 0000-0002-5984-4932
Jonathan M ReadJoint Universities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER consortium).ORCID 0000-0002-9697-0962
Louise DysonJoint Universities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER consortium).ORCID 0000-0001-9788-4858
Krasimira Tsaneva-AtanasovaCollege of Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter, Exeter, UK.ORCID 0000-0002-6294-7051
Leon DanonJoint Universities Pandemic and Epidemiological Research (JUNIPER consortium).ORCID 0000-0002-7076-1871

Funding

Medical Research Council MC_PC_19067Medical Research Council MC_PC_19067/2Medical Research Council MR/S004793/1Medical Research Council MR/V009761/1Medical Research Council MR/V028456/1Medical Research Council MR/V038613/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo establish whether there is any change in mortality from infection with a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, designated a variant of concern (VOC-202012/1) in December 2020, compared with circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants.

designMatched cohort study.

settingCommunity based (pillar 2) covid-19 testing centres in the UK using the TaqPath assay (a proxy measure of VOC-202012/1 infection).

participants54 906 matched pairs of participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in pillar 2 between 1 October 2020 and 29 January 2021, followed-up until 12 February 2021. Participants were matched on age, sex, ethnicity, index of multiple deprivation, lower tier local authority region, and sample date of positive specimens, and differed only by detectability of the spike protein gene using the TaqPath assay.

main outcome measureDeath within 28 days of the first positive SARS-CoV-2 test result.

resultsThe mortality hazard ratio associated with infection with VOC-202012/1 compared with infection with previously circulating variants was 1.64 (95% confidence interval 1.32 to 2.04) in patients who tested positive for covid-19 in the community. In this comparatively low risk group, this represents an increase in deaths from 2.5 to 4.1 per 1000 detected cases.

conclusionsThe probability that the risk of mortality is increased by infection with VOC-202012/01 is high. If this finding is generalisable to other populations, infection with VOC-202012/1 has the potential to cause substantial additional mortality compared with previously circulating variants. Healthcare capacity planning and national and international control policies are all impacted by this finding, with increased mortality lending weight to the argument that further coordinated and stringent measures are justified to reduce deaths from SARS-CoV-2.

Indexed as

AdultAgedAged, 80 and overCohort StudiesCOVID-19COVID-19 TestingFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedProportional Hazards ModelsRisk FactorsSARS-CoV-2United Kingdom

Identifiers

PMID33687922
PMCPMC7941603

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LicenceCC BY
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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.