Continuous and bimonthly publication
ISSN (on-line): 1806-3756

Licença Creative Commons
7456
Views
Back to summary
Open Access Peer-Reviewed
Cartas ao Editor

Potential years of life lost by COVID-19 in the state of Espírito Santo and proportional mortality by age.

Anos potenciais de vida perdidos devido à COVID-19 no estado do Espírito Santo e mortalidade proporcional por idade.

Keila Cristina Mascarello1, Anne Caroline Barbosa Cerqueira Vieira1, Paula de Souza Silva Freitas2, Helaine Jacinta Salvador Mocelin2, Ethel Leonor Noia Maciel2

DOI: 10.36416/1806-3756/e20210489

TO THE EDITOR,
 
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and categorized the situation as a severe pandemic,(1) the cumulative number of deaths worldwide up to November 23, 2021, reached 5,158,211.(1)
 
Premature mortality is understood as the expression of the social value of death. When death occurs at a stage when life is potentially productive, it affects not only the individual and the group where they are inserted, but also collectivity as a whole since they are deprived of their economic and intellectual potential and the future they would have had in society.(2)
 
Potential years of life lost (PYLL) is an indicator used to estimate how long a person would have lived if they had not died prematurely. The measure of potential years of life lost emphasizes the specific causes of death that affect younger age groups, resulting in a different ordering of such causes.
 
The present data analysis used the information available in the COVID-19 public dashboard of the state of Espírito Santo(3) with the purpose of calculating the PYLL due to COVID-19. All deaths that occurred in the state of Espírito Santo up to July 22, 2021 in people under 79 years of age were analyzed, totaling 9,073 deaths, considering the average life expectancy of 79.1 years for the state of Espírito Santo in 2019.(4)
 
The absolute value of PYLL in each age group was calculated by multiplying the number of the remaining years of life by the number of deaths in the same age group; the total PYLL was obtained by the sum of the PYLL in each age group according to the following formula: PYLL = Σ ai x di, where: ai represents the difference between the age limit and the age midpoint in each age group, assuming a uniform distribution of deaths in each group, and di is equal to the number of COVID-19-related deaths within the same age group.
 
In order to calculate the mean number of PYLL per 1,000 inhabitants, we used the ratio obtained by the sum of the PYLL per age group divided by the total number of inhabitants of the same age group multiplied by 1,000.
 
The first case of COVID-19 recorded in the state of Espírito Santo was on March 5th, 2020. More than 530,000 cases and 11,786 deaths were confirmed up to July 22nd, 2021, denoting a 2.2% lethality rate. Regarding age, more than 60% of the deaths occurred in individuals aged 60 years or older.
 
The number of PYLL by age group is shown in Table 1. Due to the nature of this estimate, deaths in younger people resulted in a higher number of PYLL compared to older age groups. Deaths occurring in the 0–4-year age group had a number of PYLL equal to 77.1 years; however, since COVID-19-related deaths are infrequent in younger age groups (0.15% of deaths up to 79 years), they have little impact on the global PYLL estimate. The lowest number of PYLL per 1,000 inhabitants was observed in the 5–9-year age group, with a loss of life of 1.1 years, while the highest impact on PYLL was observed in the 60–69-year age group, with a loss of 121 years of life per 1,000 inhabitants.


 
Overall, the 11,786 COVID-19-related deaths in the state of Espírito Santo totaled 154,843.3 years of life lost, with a mean of 38.5 years of life lost per 1,000 inhabitants and a mean of 17.06 PYLL per deceased individual.
 
Our results were consistent with those found in a study in Colombia, which reported 19,364 COVID-19-related deaths, totaling 346,148 PYLL by August 30, 2020. On average, each of the deceased men lost 17.4 years, while each woman lost 18.7 years.(5)
 
Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the number of PYLL was estimated at 14 for men and 12 for women. Such discrepancy in the number of PYLL for women may be due to the fact that in the UK, the affected population is older, whereas in Brazil, the general population is younger and presents comorbidities and chronic diseases, characteristics that are more similar to those in Colombia and other low and middle-income countries.(6)
 
PYLL data on COVID-19-related deaths, along with other indicators, reveal a decrease in life expectancy and losses regarding the economically active population. In addition to the reduction in birth rates, such scenario may impose an economic crisis that will require ample assistance from international organizations to developing countries after the pandemic. Should this not take place, we will have to deal with several illnesses, given the social determination of the health-disease process.(7)
 
Despite the low impact of the number of PYLL on the death of the elderly, in everyday life, many Brazilian families depend entirely on elderly pension income to survive. Although several families received emergency financial assistance provided by the government, many of them lost revenue due to the reduction in informal service activities, which contributed to a decline in household income.(8,9)
 
Considering birth rate, instead of the expected “baby boom”, the concern regarding the future spread of the new coronavirus has caused a “baby bust”, i.e., a significant drop in birth rates almost everywhere. In parallel, the worldwide mortality rate has increased significantly, and the combination of several factors has made 2020/2021 a demographically atypical year, which will have intangible economic and social impacts.(10)
 
It is well known that the death of large numbers of people during a pandemic brings severe social, emotional, and economic consequences to the population and, therefore, should not be underestimated. In addition, urgent measures addressed to contain the spread of the disease must be quickly implemented, such as the rapid vaccination of the population, assessments concerning the need for booster vaccinations, and social protection in vulnerable groups, thus preventing further increases in this large number of deaths in the future.
 
AUTHOR CONTRIBUTIONS
 
KCM: study design and planning, data analyses, writing of the manuscript, and approval of the final version. PSSF, HJSM, ACBCV, and ELNM: study design and planning, writing of the manuscript, and approval of the final version.
 
REFERENCES
 
1.            World Health Organization. WHO Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard. [cited 2021 nov 24]. Available from: https://covid19.who.int/.
2.            PEIXOTO HCG, SOUZA ML. O indicador anos potenciais de vida perdidos e a ordenação das causas de morte em Santa Catarina, 1995*. Inf. Epidemiol. Sus. 1999;8(1):17-25. https://doi.org/10.5123/S0104-16731999000100003.
3.            Painel Covid Espírito Santo [homepage on the Internet]. [cited 2021 Jul 22]. Available from: https://coronavirus.es.gov.br/painel-covid-19-es.
4.            Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE) [homepage on the Internet]. Tábua completa de mortalidade para o Brasil [cited 2021 Jul 25]. Available from: https://biblioteca.ibge.gov.br/index.php/biblioteca-catalogo?view=detalhes&id=73097.
5.            Rosselli D, Rincón G, Pantoja-Ruiz C. Covid-19 y años de vida potencial perdidos en Colombia. Acta Med Peru. 2020;37(3):402-3. https://doi.org/10.35663/amp.2020.373.1045.
6.            Hanlon P, Chadwick F, Shah A, Wood R, Minton J, McCartney G, et al. COVID-19 - exploring the implications of long-term condition type and extent of multimorbidity on years of life lost: a modelling study. Wellcome Open Res. 2021;5:75. https://doi.org/10.12688/ wellcomeopenres.15849.1.
7.            Castro-Silva CR, Ianni A, Forte E. Desigualdades e subjetividade: construção da práxis no contexto da pandemia de covid-19 em território vulnerável. Saúde Soc. São Paulo. 2021;30(2):1-9. https://doi.org/10.1590/S0104-12902021210029.
8.            Aquino EML, Silveira IH, Pescarini JM, Aquino R, Souza-Filho JA, Rocha AS et al. Medidas de distanciamento social no controle da pandemia de covid-19: potenciais impactos e desafios no Brasil. Ciência & Saúde Coletiva. 2020; 25(Supl. 1): 2423-2446. https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232020256.1.10502020.
9.            Souza JN. Covid-19 e capitalismo: uma visão. In: Castro D, Dal Seno D; Pochmann M (Org.). Capitalismo e a covid-19: um debate urgente. São Paulo; 2020. p. 11-18.
10.          Moaven L, Brown J. COVID-19 “Baby boom”. Med J Aust. 2021. https://doi.org/10.5694/mja2.51010.

Indexes

Development by:

© All rights reserved 2024 - Jornal Brasileiro de Pneumologia