ArticleArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2025
Mapping the burden of COVID-19 infections and estimating the contribution of socioeconomic factors: a cross-sectional study.
Article in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
introductionEcuador was among the countries most severely affected by COVID-19, a consequence of its distinct geographical and socioeconomic vulnerabilities. This study seeks to assess the pandemic’s burden in Ecuador during 2020 by quantifying Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Furthermore, it investigates the spatial relationship between Years of Life Lost (YLL) and cantonal-level sociodemographic factors, aiming to identify regional disparities and underlying social determinants that contributed to the observed inequities in health outcomes.
methodsThis study conducts a subnational analysis of Ecuador’s COVID-19 burden, examining epidemiological data from February to December 2020 across all 24 provinces and 221 cantons. We utilized morbidity and mortality statistics from the Ministry of Public Health (MoH) alongside national census data to assess disease impact through spatial and demographic disparities. Laboratory-confirmed cases were categorized as deaths or recoveries. DALYs were calculated by gender and age group using the DALY package in R. Spatial autocorrelation analyses were conducted to find associations with locational factors.
resultsA total of 125,383 DALYs were recorded for COVID-19 during the study period. Males experienced higher DALYs (Median = 56,859) than females (Median = 28,344; Mann–Whitney U = 24,427,451, p < 0.0001, Hedges’ g = 0.52). The disease burden was particularly high in individuals aged 60 and older. YLL had a geographic pattern, with higher rates in northern and western Ecuador (global Moran’s I = 3.22, p = 0.0006), and was associated with factors such as literacy, ethnicity, and sanitation.
conclusionsCOVID-19 imposed a substantial burden of disease in Ecuador in 2020, with nearly all DALYs attributable to premature mortality. Geographic and sociodemographic disparities revealed clusters of excess YLL in cantons with limited healthcare access and structural vulnerabilities. These findings underscore the need for equity-oriented policies and geographically targeted interventions to strengthen health system resilience and reduce future pandemic impacts.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.