ArticleThe European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care2022
The cost of lost productivity due to premature mortality associated with COVID-19: a Pan-European study.
Article in The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 33 citations in OpenAlex.
- Productivity Losses due to Health Problems Arising from COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review of Population-Level Studies Worldwide.Applied health economics and health policy · 2025Pooled it
- Paid and unpaid productivity losses across 28 European countries due to excess deaths and COVID-19 deaths from 2020 to 2023.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2026Article
- Impact of timely vaccination and genomic surveillance on controlling consecutive waves of SARS-CoV-2 variants.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Estimating Productivity Losses per HIV Infection due to Premature HIV Mortality in the United States.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2026Article
- The economic burden of COVID-19 premature mortality in Kuwait.BMC public health · 2025Article
- The economic burden of COVID-19 in a region with stringent response measures: A case study of Taiwan.Journal of food and drug analysis · 2025Article
- Estimating the effects of temperature on mortality and hospitalisations under RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios in the short- and long-term by region in Chile: a population-based, modelling study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Extended Analysis of the Hospitalization Cost and Economic Burden of COVID-19 in Romania.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Association between COVID-19 Status and Economic Costs in the Early Stages of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a UK Symptom Surveillance Digital Survey.PharmacoEconomics - open · 2025Article
- Excess potential years of working life lost in six countries from Latin America and Europe in 2020 and 2021.Occupational and environmental medicine · 2024Article
- Public Health and Economic Impact of Periodic COVID-19 Vaccination with BNT162b2 for Old Adults and High-Risk Patients in an Illustrative Prefecture of Japan: A Budget Impact Analysis.Infectious diseases and therapy · 2024Article
- Gender disparities in lost productivity resulting from non-communicable diseases in Mexico, 2005-2021.Journal of global health · 2024Article
- Post-COVID-19 syndrome: persistent symptoms, functional impact, quality of life, return to work, and indirect costs - a prospective case study 12 months after COVID-19 infection.Cadernos de saude publica · 2024Article
- Article
- Projected Impact on Labour Productivity Costs of Cancer-Related Premature Mortality in Europe 2018-2040.Applied health economics and health policy · 2023Article
- Modelling the economic burden of SARS-CoV-2 infection in health care workers in four countries.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Observational
- Comparing swab- and different symptoms-based strategies to ascertain COVID-19 recovery in healthcare workers: a cost-effectiveness analysis.Cost effectiveness and resource allocation : C/E · 2022Article
- [Excess mortality in 2020 in the working-age population of nine Latin American countriesExcesso de mortalidade na população em idade ativa em nove países da América Latina no ano de 2020].Revista panamericana de salud publica = Pan American journal of public health · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEconomic cost estimates have the potential to provide a valuable alternative perspective on the COVID-19 burden. We estimate the premature mortality productivity costs associated with COVID-19 across Europe.
methodsWe calculated excess deaths between the date the cumulative total of COVID-19 deaths reached 10 in a country to 15th May 2020 for nine countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland). Gender- and age-specific excess deaths and Years of Potential Productive Life Lost (YPPLL) between 30 and 74 years were calculated and converted into premature mortality productivity costs €2020 for paid and unpaid work using the Human Capital and the Proxy Good Approaches. Costs were discounted at 3.5%.
resultsTotal estimated excess deaths across the nine countries were 18,614 (77% in men) and YPPLL were 134,190 (77% male). Total paid premature mortality costs were €1.07 billion (87% male) with Spain (€0.35 billion, 33.0% of total), Italy (€0.22 billion; 20.6%) and The Netherlands (€0.19 billion; 17.5%) ranking highest. Total paid and unpaid premature mortality costs were €2.89 billion (77% male). Premature mortality costs per death ranged between €40,382 (France) and €350,325 (Switzerland). Spain experienced the highest premature mortality cost as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (0.11%).
conclusionEven in the initial period of the pandemic in Europe, COVID-19-related premature mortality costs were significant across Europe. We provide policy makers and researchers with a valuable alternative perspective on the burden of the virus and highlight potential economic savings that may be accrued by applying timely public health measures.
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