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COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Yanez, ND; Weiss, NS; Romand, J-A; Treggiari, MM
Published in: BMC Public Health
November 19, 2020

BACKGROUND: Case-fatality from COVID-19 has been reported to be relatively high in patients age 65 years or older. We sought to determine the age-specific rates of COVID-19 mortality at the population level. METHODS: We obtained information regarding the total number of COVID-19 reported deaths for six consecutive weeks beginning at the 50th recorded death, among 16 countries that reported a relatively high number of COVID-19 cases as of April 12, 2020. We performed an ecological study to model COVID-19 mortality rates per week by age group (54 years or younger, 55-64 years, and 65 years or older) and sex using a Poisson mixed effects regression model. RESULTS: Over the six-week period of data, there were 178,568 COVID-19 deaths from a total population of approximately 2.4 billion people. Age and sex were associated with COVID-19 mortality. Compared with individuals ages 54 years or younger, the incident rate ratio (IRR) was 8.1, indicating that the mortality rate of COVID-19 was 8.1 times higher (95%CI = 7.7, 8.5) among those 55 to 64 years, and more than 62 times higher (IRR = 62.1; 95%CI = 59.7, 64.7) among those ages 65 or older. Mortality rates from COVID-19 were 77% higher in men than in women (IRR = 1.77, 95%CI = 1.74, 1.79). CONCLUSIONS: In the 16 countries examined, persons age 65 years or older had strikingly higher COVID-19 mortality rates compared to younger individuals, and men had a higher risk of COVID-19 death than women.

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Published In

BMC Public Health

DOI

EISSN

1471-2458

Publication Date

November 19, 2020

Volume

20

Issue

1

Start / End Page

1742

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Sex Distribution
  • Risk
  • Public Health
  • Pneumonia, Viral
  • Pandemics
  • Mortality
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Global Health
 

Citation

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Yanez, N. D., Weiss, N. S., Romand, J.-A., & Treggiari, M. M. (2020). COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women. BMC Public Health, 20(1), 1742. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09826-8
Yanez, N David, Noel S. Weiss, Jacques-André Romand, and Miriam M. Treggiari. “COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women.BMC Public Health 20, no. 1 (November 19, 2020): 1742. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-09826-8.
Yanez ND, Weiss NS, Romand J-A, Treggiari MM. COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women. BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 19;20(1):1742.
Yanez, N. David, et al. “COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women.BMC Public Health, vol. 20, no. 1, Nov. 2020, p. 1742. Pubmed, doi:10.1186/s12889-020-09826-8.
Yanez ND, Weiss NS, Romand J-A, Treggiari MM. COVID-19 mortality risk for older men and women. BMC Public Health. 2020 Nov 19;20(1):1742.
Journal cover image

Published In

BMC Public Health

DOI

EISSN

1471-2458

Publication Date

November 19, 2020

Volume

20

Issue

1

Start / End Page

1742

Location

England

Related Subject Headings

  • Sex Distribution
  • Risk
  • Public Health
  • Pneumonia, Viral
  • Pandemics
  • Mortality
  • Middle Aged
  • Male
  • Humans
  • Global Health