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Published in: Journal of Public Health 11/2023

Open Access 26-09-2022 | SARS-CoV-2 | Review Article

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on cause-specific mortality patterns: a systematic literature review

Authors: Francesco Sanmarchi, Francesco Esposito, Emanuele Adorno, Francesco De Dominicis, Maria Pia Fantini, Davide Golinelli

Published in: Journal of Public Health | Issue 11/2023

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Abstract

Background

Understanding the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cause-specific mortality should be a priority, as this metric allows for a detailed analysis of the true burden of the pandemic. The aim of this systematic literature review is to estimate the impact of the pandemic on different causes of death, providing a quantitative and qualitative analysis of the phenomenon.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, Scopus, and ProQuest for studies that reported cause-specific mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic, extracting relevant data.

Results

A total of 2413 articles were retrieved, and after screening 22 were selected for data extraction. Cause-specific mortality results were reported using different units of measurement. The most frequently analyzed cause of death was cardiovascular diseases (n = 16), followed by cancer (n = 14) and diabetes (n = 11). We reported heterogeneous patterns of cause-specific mortality, except for suicide and road accident.

Conclusions

Evidence on non-COVID-19 cause-specific deaths is not exhaustive. Reliable scientific evidence is needed by policymakers to make the best decisions in an unprecedented and extremely uncertain historical period. We advocate for the urgent need to find an international consensus to define reliable methodological approaches to establish the true burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on non-COVID-19 mortality.
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Literature
go back to reference Kontopantelis E, Mamas MA, Webb RT et al (2021) Excess deaths from COVID-19 and other causes by region, neighbourhood deprivation level and place of death during the first 30 weeks of the pandemic in England and Wales: a retrospective registry study. Lancet Reg Health Eur 7:100144. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.LANEPE.2021.100144 Kontopantelis E, Mamas MA, Webb RT et al (2021) Excess deaths from COVID-19 and other causes by region, neighbourhood deprivation level and place of death during the first 30 weeks of the pandemic in England and Wales: a retrospective registry study. Lancet Reg Health Eur 7:100144. https://​doi.​org/​10.​1016/​J.​LANEPE.​2021.​100144
Metadata
Title
The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on cause-specific mortality patterns: a systematic literature review
Authors
Francesco Sanmarchi
Francesco Esposito
Emanuele Adorno
Francesco De Dominicis
Maria Pia Fantini
Davide Golinelli
Publication date
26-09-2022
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Journal of Public Health / Issue 11/2023
Print ISSN: 2198-1833
Electronic ISSN: 1613-2238
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-022-01755-7

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