Excess Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Cities of Chile: Magnitude, Inequalities, and Urban Determinants.
J Urban Health
; 99(5): 922-935, 2022 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1942788
ABSTRACT
We estimated excess mortality in Chilean cities during the COVID-19 pandemic and its association with city-level factors. We used mortality, and social and built environment data from the SALURBAL study for 21 Chilean cities, composed of 81 municipalities or "comunas", grouped in 4 macroregions. We estimated excess mortality by comparing deaths from January 2020 up to June 2021 vs 2016-2019, using a generalized additive model. We estimated a total of 21,699 (95%CI 21,693 to 21,704) excess deaths across the 21 cities. Overall relative excess mortality was highest in the Metropolitan (Santiago) and the North regions (28.9% and 22.2%, respectively), followed by the South and Center regions (17.6% and 14.1%). At the city-level, the highest relative excess mortality was found in the Northern cities of Calama and Iquique (around 40%). Cities with higher residential overcrowding had higher excess mortality. In Santiago, capital of Chile, municipalities with higher educational attainment had lower relative excess mortality. These results provide insight into the heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 in Chile, which has served as a magnifier of preexisting urban health inequalities, exhibiting different impacts between and within cities. Delving into these findings could help prioritize strategies addressed to prevent deaths in more vulnerable communities.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
South America
/
Chile
Language:
English
Journal:
J Urban Health
Journal subject:
Medicine
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S11524-022-00658-y
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