ArticlePalliative medicine2021
Changes in mortality patterns and place of death during the COVID-19 pandemic: A descriptive analysis of mortality data across four nations.
Article in Palliative medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 36 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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.
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Who cites it
36 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Place of death in Parkinson's disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of associated factors.Journal of Parkinson's disease · 2026Pooled it
- Models, components and outcomes of palliative and end-of-life care provided to adults living at home: A systematic umbrella review of reviews.Palliative medicine · 2025Pooled it
- How is community based 'out-of-hours' care provided to patients with advanced illness near the end of life: A systematic review of care provision.Palliative medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Communication during out-of-hours primary care contacts for people with a terminal illness: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2026Article
- The impact of the pandemic on non-COVID-19 causes of death in the United States: a multiple cause of death analysis.European journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- What are the experiences and support needs of district nurses caring for terminally ill people with delirium at home? A qualitative study.BMC palliative care · 2025Article
- [Impact of COVID-19 on home mortality in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: temporal and spatial analysis, 2010 to 2020].Cadernos de saude publica · 2025Article
- Deaths at home during COVID-19 in Scotland: Demographics, multimorbidity, and palliative care needs in population data.International journal of population data science · 2025Article
- Indirect effects of the COVID-19 pandemic: A cause-of-death analysis of life expectancy changes in 24 countries, 2015 to 2022.PNAS nexus · 2025Article
- What knowledge and skills are needed for community volunteers to take on a signposting role in community-based palliative care? A qualitative study.Palliative care and social practice · 2025Article
- Characteristics of cancer patients dying at home during the COVID-19 pandemic: A study based on vital statistics from 2015 to 2022 in Japan.Journal of general and family medicine · 2024Article
- Integration of primary care and palliative care services to improve equality and equity at the end-of-life: Findings from realist stakeholder workshops.Palliative medicine · 2024Article
- Age at death during the Covid-19 lockdown in French metropolitan regions: a non parametric quantile regression approach.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Change in the Proportion of Death at Home during the COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Associated Factors in the Municipality Level: A Nationwide Study in Japan.JMA journal · 2024Article
- Changes in Site of Death Among Older Adults Without a COVID-19 Diagnosis During the COVID-19 Pandemic.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- A framework for more equitable, diverse, and inclusive Patient and Public Involvement for palliative care research.Research involvement and engagement · 2024Article
- The rise of home death in the COVID-19 pandemic: a population-based study of death certificate data for adults from 32 countries, 2012-2021.EClinicalMedicine · 2024Article
- Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic prevention measures to the palliative care in Taiwan.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
- EOLinPLACE: an international research project to reform the way dying places are classified and understood.Palliative care and social practice · 2024Article
- Observational
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUnderstanding patterns of mortality and place of death during the COVID-19 pandemic is important to help provide appropriate services and resources.
aimsTo analyse patterns of mortality including place of death in the United Kingdom (UK) (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) during the COVID-19 pandemic to date.
designDescriptive analysis of UK mortality data between March 2020 and March 2021. Weekly number of deaths was described by place of death, using the following definitions: (1) expected deaths: average expected deaths estimated using historical data (2015-19); (2) COVID-19 deaths: where COVID-19 is mentioned on the death certificate; (3) additional non-COVID-19 deaths: above expected but not attributed to COVID-19; (4) baseline deaths: up to and including expected deaths but excluding COVID-19 deaths.
resultsDuring the analysis period, 798,643 deaths were registered in the UK, of which 147,282 were COVID-19 deaths and 17,672 were additional non-COVID-19 deaths. While numbers of people who died in care homes and hospitals increased above expected only during the pandemic waves, the numbers of people who died at home remained above expected both during and between the pandemic waves, with an overall increase of 41%.
conclusionsWhere people died changed during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an increase in deaths at home during and between pandemic waves. This has implications for planning and organisation of palliative care and community services. The extent to which these changes will persist longer term remains unclear. Further research could investigate whether this is reflected in other countries with high COVID-19 mortality.
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