The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden
The Nordic countries offer an ideal case study of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their comparability, high data quality, and variable mitigations. We investigated the age- and sex-specific mortality patterns during 2020-2021 for the five Nordic countries and analysed the total age- and sex-adjusted ex...
Published in: | SSM - Population Health |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Elsevier Ltd.
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10138/564770 |
id |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/564770 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftunivhelsihelda:oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/564770 2024-01-07T09:44:10+01:00 The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden Kepp, Kasper P. Björk, Jonas Emilsson, Louise Lallukka, Tea Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ) Department of Public Health 2023-09-07T09:55:02Z 11 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/10138/564770 eng eng Elsevier Ltd. 10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101377 Kepp , K P , Björk , J , Emilsson , L & Lallukka , T 2023 , ' The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden ' , SSM - Population Health , vol. 22 , 101377 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101377 36919136 cad1be77-1ded-4967-b6e6-02fefe44787e http://hdl.handle.net/10138/564770 001043023400001 cc_by_nc_nd openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Age-specific death rates Covid-19 Excess deaths Health demographics Nordic countries 3142 Public health care science environmental and occupational health Article publishedVersion 2023 ftunivhelsihelda 2023-12-14T00:07:27Z The Nordic countries offer an ideal case study of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their comparability, high data quality, and variable mitigations. We investigated the age- and sex-specific mortality patterns during 2020-2021 for the five Nordic countries and analysed the total age- and sex-adjusted excess deaths, ratios of actual to expected death rates, and age-standardized excess death estimates. We assessed excess deaths using several time periods and sensitivity tests, and 42 sex and age groups. Declining pre-pandemic age-specific death rates reflected improving health demographics. These affect the expected death estimates and should be accounted for in excess mortality models. Denmark had the highest death rates both before and during the pandemic, whereas in 2020 Sweden had the largest mortality increase. The age-standardized mortality of Denmark, Iceland and Norway was lowest in 2020. 2021 was one of the lowest mortality years for all Nordic countries. The total excess deaths in 2020-2021 were dominated by 70-89-year-olds, were not identified in children, and were more pronounced among men than women. Sweden had more excess deaths in 2020 than in 2021, whereas Finland, Norway and Denmark had the opposite. Our study provides new details on Nordic sex- and age-specific mortality during the first two years of the pandemic and shows that several metrics are important to enable a full understanding and comparison of the pandemic mortality. Peer reviewed Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository Norway SSM - Population Health 22 101377 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
HELDA – University of Helsinki Open Repository |
op_collection_id |
ftunivhelsihelda |
language |
English |
topic |
Age-specific death rates Covid-19 Excess deaths Health demographics Nordic countries 3142 Public health care science environmental and occupational health |
spellingShingle |
Age-specific death rates Covid-19 Excess deaths Health demographics Nordic countries 3142 Public health care science environmental and occupational health Kepp, Kasper P. Björk, Jonas Emilsson, Louise Lallukka, Tea The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
topic_facet |
Age-specific death rates Covid-19 Excess deaths Health demographics Nordic countries 3142 Public health care science environmental and occupational health |
description |
The Nordic countries offer an ideal case study of the COVID-19 pandemic due to their comparability, high data quality, and variable mitigations. We investigated the age- and sex-specific mortality patterns during 2020-2021 for the five Nordic countries and analysed the total age- and sex-adjusted excess deaths, ratios of actual to expected death rates, and age-standardized excess death estimates. We assessed excess deaths using several time periods and sensitivity tests, and 42 sex and age groups. Declining pre-pandemic age-specific death rates reflected improving health demographics. These affect the expected death estimates and should be accounted for in excess mortality models. Denmark had the highest death rates both before and during the pandemic, whereas in 2020 Sweden had the largest mortality increase. The age-standardized mortality of Denmark, Iceland and Norway was lowest in 2020. 2021 was one of the lowest mortality years for all Nordic countries. The total excess deaths in 2020-2021 were dominated by 70-89-year-olds, were not identified in children, and were more pronounced among men than women. Sweden had more excess deaths in 2020 than in 2021, whereas Finland, Norway and Denmark had the opposite. Our study provides new details on Nordic sex- and age-specific mortality during the first two years of the pandemic and shows that several metrics are important to enable a full understanding and comparison of the pandemic mortality. Peer reviewed |
author2 |
Helsinki Inequality Initiative (INEQ) Department of Public Health |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Kepp, Kasper P. Björk, Jonas Emilsson, Louise Lallukka, Tea |
author_facet |
Kepp, Kasper P. Björk, Jonas Emilsson, Louise Lallukka, Tea |
author_sort |
Kepp, Kasper P. |
title |
The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
title_short |
The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
title_full |
The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
title_fullStr |
The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
title_full_unstemmed |
The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden |
title_sort |
contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in denmark, finland, iceland, norway, and sweden |
publisher |
Elsevier Ltd. |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10138/564770 |
geographic |
Norway |
geographic_facet |
Norway |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_relation |
10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101377 Kepp , K P , Björk , J , Emilsson , L & Lallukka , T 2023 , ' The contribution of population age-sex structure to the excess mortality estimates of 2020-2021 in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden ' , SSM - Population Health , vol. 22 , 101377 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2023.101377 36919136 cad1be77-1ded-4967-b6e6-02fefe44787e http://hdl.handle.net/10138/564770 001043023400001 |
op_rights |
cc_by_nc_nd openAccess info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
container_title |
SSM - Population Health |
container_volume |
22 |
container_start_page |
101377 |
_version_ |
1787425504513490944 |