ReviewBMJ global health2022
Understanding the impact of lockdowns on short-term excess mortality in Australia.
Review in BMJ global health, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- Measuring the excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Northern Territory, Australia.Epidemiology and infection · 2026Article
- Out-of-hospital cardiac arrests in Victoria, 2003-2022: retrospective analysis of Victorian Ambulance Cardiac Arrest Registry data.The Medical journal of Australia · 2024Observational
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on life expectancy in Australia, 2020-22.International journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Response to critique of: 'Understanding the impact of lockdowns on short-term excess mortality in Australia' by Gigi Foster and Sanjeev Sabhlok.BMJ global health · 2023Article
- Response to 'Understanding the impact of lockdowns on short-term excess mortality in Australia' by Philip Clarke and Andrew Leigh (published inBMJ global health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
During 2020 and 2021, Australia implemented relatively stringent government restrictions yet had few COVID-19 deaths. This provides an opportunity to understand the effects of lockdowns and quarantining restrictions on short-term mortality and to help provide evidence in understanding how such public health policies can impact on health. Our analysis is based on preliminary mortality data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Rates were estimated by disease and over time and compared with mortality statistics in the period 2015-2019. Comparing deaths in 2020-2021 with 2015-2019 show the annual mortality rate (per 100 000 people) fell by 5.9% from 528.4 in 2015-2019 to 497.0 in 2020-2021. Declines in mortality are across many disease categories including respiratory diseases (down 9.4 deaths per 100 000), cancer (down 7.5 deaths per 100 000) and heart disease (down 8.4 deaths per 100 000). During 2020 and 2021, Australian age-standardised mortality rates fell by 6%. This drop was similar for men and women, and was driven by a reduction in both communicable and non-communicable causes of death. Such evidence can help inform public health policies designed to both control COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
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Registered trials
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