Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36334463›Full record

ArticleJournal of infection and public health2022

Covid-19 mortality and local burden of infectious diseases: A worldwide country-by-country analysis.

Robert Krause, Josef Smolle

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of infection and public health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
0.3field-weighted citation impact, top 44% 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

3 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Turkish journal of pharmaceutical sciences · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
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

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Robert KrauseDepartment of Internal Medicine, Divison of Infectious Diseases, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 15, A-8036 Graz, Austria.
Josef SmolleInstitute of Medical Informatics, Statistics and Documentation, Medical University of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 2/5, A-8036 Graz, Austria. Electronic address: josef.smolle@medunigraz.at.
Medical University of Graz · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundGlobal differences in the Covid-19 death toll between various countries are still a matter of debate. We evaluated the potential influence of general burden of infectious diseases prior to the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic on the number of Covid-19 deaths during the pandemic.

methodsWe used publicly available data from Worldometer and Our World in Data. In a complete case analysis, 178 countries and territories, where all parameters were available, entered the analysis, representing 99.02% of the global population. Relationships between various parameters of the local burden of infectious diseases as well as childhood mortality, median age, and vaccination as independent variables, on Covid-19 deaths as the dependent variable, were evaluated.

resultsDeath from diarrheal disease, respiratory disease, pneumonia, pneumonia in childhood, malaria, and HIV, as well as childhood mortality correlated negatively with number of Covid-19 deaths (Spearman rank correlation test: p < 0.0001 for each parameter), while median age was positively correlated with Covid-19 deaths (p < 0.0001). In a multivariable approach using kernel functions, death from respiratory disease and median age retained statistical significance. When vaccination rate and median age were simultaneously taken into account, vaccination rate showed a significant negative correlation with Covid-19 deaths.

conclusionsLocal burden of infectious diseases as well as childhood mortality prior to the onset of the pandemic have a strikingly negative impact on Covid-19 deaths. This effect might be due to an increase in trained immunity and to the overall younger population. Vaccination appears as an effective preventive measure.

Indexed as

Communicable DiseasesCOVID-19Respiratory Tract DiseasesCause of DeathGlobal HealthHumansMortalityPandemicsBurden of infectious diseasesChildhood mortalityCovid-19-mortalitySARS-CoV2

Identifiers

PMID36334463
PMCPMC9598049
OpenAlexW4307568751

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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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.