Leonardo Villani1, Martin McKee2, Fidelia Cascini1, Walter Ricciardi1, Stefania Boccia1,3. 1. Section of Hygiene, Department of Life Sciences and Public Health, Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy. 2. London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, United Kingdom. 3. Department of Woman and Child Health and Public Health-Public Health Area, Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IRCCS), Rome, Italy.
Abstract
Background: Europe overall suffered greatly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but the impact of different countries varied. Italy was in the forefront, but there too there were differences, with the Lombardy region the epicentre of the pandemic. Methods: We report Crude Mortality Rates (CMRs) from deaths reported as due to COVID-19 and, in five countries where age-specific data are available, Standardized Mortality Rates (SMRs) in the European Union and United Kingdom. Results: As of 30th August 2020, Belgium was the country with the highest cumulative CMR (86.3/100,000), but the Lombardy region reached almost double this figure (167.6/100,000), far ahead of the corresponding figure for the rest of Italy at 37.0/100,000. SMRs could be calculated for five countries (Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, and Netherlands). Among them, Sweden had the highest SMR (61.6/100,000). The corresponding figures for Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Germany were 50.2, 41.4, 15.9, and 10.1 per 100,000, respectively. Conclusion: It is clear that countries within Europe have performed very differently in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the many limitations in the available data must be addressed before a definitive assessment of the reasons for these differences can be made.
Background: Europe overall suffered greatly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but the impact of different countries varied. Italy was in the forefront, but there too there were differences, with the Lombardy region the epicentre of the pandemic. Methods: We report Crude Mortality Rates (CMRs) from deaths reported as due to COVID-19 and, in five countries where age-specific data are available, Standardized Mortality Rates (SMRs) in the European Union and United Kingdom. Results: As of 30th August 2020, Belgium was the country with the highest cumulative CMR (86.3/100,000), but the Lombardy region reached almost double this figure (167.6/100,000), far ahead of the corresponding figure for the rest of Italy at 37.0/100,000. SMRs could be calculated for five countries (Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, and Netherlands). Among them, Sweden had the highest SMR (61.6/100,000). The corresponding figures for Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Germany were 50.2, 41.4, 15.9, and 10.1 per 100,000, respectively. Conclusion: It is clear that countries within Europe have performed very differently in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the many limitations in the available data must be addressed before a definitive assessment of the reasons for these differences can be made.
Authors: Pedro David Wendel-Garcia; André Moser; Yok-Ai Que; Matthias Peter Hilty; Marie-Madlen Jeitziner; Hernán Aguirre-Bermeo; Pedro Arias-Sanchez; Janina Apolo; Ferran Roche-Campo; Diego Franch-Llasat; Gian-Reto Kleger; Claudia Schrag; Urs Pietsch; Miodrag Filipovic; Sascha David; Klaus Stahl; Souad Bouaoud; Amel Ouyahia; Patricia Fodor; Pascal Locher; Martin Siegemund; Nuria Zellweger; Sara Cereghetti; Peter Schott; Gianfilippo Gangitano; Maddalena Alessandra Wu; Mario Alfaro-Farias; Gerardo Vizmanos-Lamotte; Hatem Ksouri; Nadine Gehring; Emanuele Rezoagli; Fabrizio Turrini; Herminia Lozano-Gómez; Andrea Carsetti; Raquel Rodríguez-García; Bernd Yuen; Anja Baltussen Weber; Pedro Castro; Jesus Oscar Escos-Orta; Alexander Dullenkopf; Maria C Martín-Delgado; Theodoros Aslanidis; Marie-Helene Perez; Frank Hillgaertner; Samuele Ceruti; Marilene Franchitti Laurent; Julien Marrel; Riccardo Colombo; Marcus Laube; Alberto Fogagnolo; Michael Studhalter; Tobias Wengenmayer; Emiliano Gamberini; Christian Buerkle; Philipp K Buehler; Stefanie Keiser; Muhammed Elhadi; Jonathan Montomoli; Philippe Guerci; Thierry Fumeaux; Reto A Schuepbach; Stephan M Jakob Journal: Crit Care Date: 2022-07-04 Impact factor: 19.334