Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33912529›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in public health2021

Societal Impacts of Pandemics: Comparing COVID-19 With History to Focus Our Response.

Grace E Patterson, K Marie McIntyre, Helen E Clough, Jonathan Rushton

Open access · goldAbstract readHistorical Article
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
6.0field-weighted citation impact, top 3% 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

31 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 85 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Black Death of 1348 in Florence and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) in the 650Journal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2025
    Article
  9. Review
  10. Article
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic on oral medicine practice.Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology · 2022
    Article
  20. Otolaryngology in the face of A pandemic.Operative techniques in otolaryngology--head and neck surgery · 2022
    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

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Grace E PattersonDepartment of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
K Marie McIntyreDepartment of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Helen E CloughDepartment of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
Jonathan RushtonDepartment of Livestock and One Health, Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom.
University of Liverpool · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

COVID-19 has disrupted everyday life worldwide and is the first disease event since the 1918 H1N1 Spanish influenza (flu) pandemic to demand an urgent global healthcare response. There has been much debate on whether the damage of COVID-19 is due predominantly to the pathogen itself or our response to it. We compare SARS-CoV-2 against three other major pandemics (1347 Black Death, 1520's new world smallpox outbreaks, and 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic) over the course of 700 years to unearth similarities and differences in pathogen, social and medical context, human response and behavior, and long-term social and economic impact that should be used to shape COVID-19 decision-making. We conclude that <100 years ago, pandemic disease events were still largely uncontrolled and unexplained. The extensive damage wreaked by historical pandemics on health, economy, and society was a function of pathogen characteristics and lack of public health resources. Though there remain many similarities in patterns of disease spread and response from 1300 onwards, the major risks posed by COVID-19 arise not from the pathogen, but from indirect effects of control measures on health and core societal activities. Our understanding of the epidemiology and effective treatment of this virus has rapidly improved and attention is shifting toward the identification of long-term control strategies that balance consideration of health in at risk populations, societal behavior, and economic impact. Policymakers should use lessons from previous pandemics to develop appropriate risk assessments and control plans for now-endemic COVID-19, and for future pandemics.

Indexed as

COVID-19Influenza A Virus, H1N1 SubtypeInfluenza, HumanInfluenza Pandemic, 1918-1919History, 20th CenturyHumansSARS-CoV-2COVID-19economic impactpandemic controlplaguesmallpoxSpanish flu

Identifiers

PMID33912529
PMCPMC8072022
OpenAlexW3155256893

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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.