Evidence map›Paper›PMID 35341873›Full record

ArticleThe Science of the total environment2022

Variations of COVID-19 mortality are affected by economic disparities across countries.

Lan Yao, Lotfi Aleya, Scott C Howard, Yanhong Cao, Cong-Yi Wang, Sara W Day, J Carolyn Graff, Dianjun Sun, Weikuan Gu

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Science of the total environment, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.9field-weighted citation impact, top 9% 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

11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.

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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

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Lan YaoHealth Outcomes and Policy Research, College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38103, USA.
Lotfi AleyaChrono-Environnement Laboratory, UMR CNRS 6249, Bourgogne Franche-Comté Université, F-25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
Scott C HowardCollege of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
Yanhong CaoCenter for Endemic Disease Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Medical University, PR China; Key Laboratory of Etiologic Epidemiology, Education Bureau of Heilongjiang Province & Ministry of Health (23618104), 157 Baojian Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150081, PR China.
Cong-Yi WangThe Center for Biomedical Research, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, NHC Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, PR China.
Sara W DayCollege of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
J Carolyn GraffCollege of Nursing, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
Dianjun SunCenter for Endemic Disease Control, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Harbin Medical University, PR China; Key Laboratory of Etiologic Epidemiology, Education Bureau of Heilongjiang Province & Ministry of Health (23618104), 157 Baojian Road, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150081, PR China. Electronic address: hrbmusdj@163.com.
Weikuan GuDepartment of Orthopedic Surgery and BME-Campbell Clinic, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, USA; Research Service, Memphis VA Medical Center, 1030 Jefferson Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104, USA. Electronic address: wgu@uthsc.edu.
University of Tennessee Health Science Center · USHuazhong University of Science and Technology · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWhen the COVID-19 case number reaches a maximum in a country, its capacity and management of health system face greatest challenge.

methodsWe performed a cross-sectional study on data of turning points for cases and deaths for the first three waves of COVID-19 in countries with more than 5000 cumulative cases, as reported by Worldometers and WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. We compared the case fatality rates (CFRs) and time lags (in unit of day) between the turning points of cases and deaths among countries in different development stages and potential influence factors. As of May 10, 2021, 106 out of 222 countries or regions (56%) reported more than 5000 cases. Approximately half of them have experienced all the three waves of COVID-19 disease. The average mortality rate at the disease turning point was 0.038 for the first wave, 0.020 for the second wave, and 0.023 for wave 3. In high-income countries, the mortality rates during the first wave are higher than that of the other income levels. However, the mortality rates during the second and third waves of COVID-19 were much lower than those of the first wave, with a significant reduction from 5.7% to 1.7% approximately 70%. At the same time, high-income countries exhibited a 2-fold increase in time lags during the second and the third waves compared to the first wave, suggesting that the periods between the cases and deaths turning point extended. High rates in the first wave in developed countries are associated to multiple factors including transportation, population density, and aging populations. In upper middle- and lower middle-income countries, the decreasing of mortality rates in the second and third waves were subtle or even reversed, with increased mortality during the following waves. In the upper and lower middle-income countries, the time lags were about 50% of the durations observed from high-income countries.

interpretationEconomy and medical resources affect the efficiency of COVID-19 mitigation and the clinical outcomes of the patients. The situation is likely to become even worse in the light of these countries' limited ability to combat COVID-19 and prevent severe outcomes or deaths as the new variant transmission becomes dominant.

Indexed as

COVID-19Cross-Sectional StudiesHumansIncomePopulation DensitySARS-CoV-2COVID-19EconomyIncome levelsMortalityPolicyTurning pointsWaves

Identifiers

PMID35341873
PMCPMC8949690
OpenAlexW4225754843

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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.