[Excess mortality in the Lolland-Falster region in Denmark is associated with migration].

At present, Lolland-Falster, a provincial-rural area in south-eastern Denmark, has the lowest life expectancy nationwide; about 78.6 years. This review summarises the development in mortality in this region. Mortality data from 1968 to 2017 showed this to be a new phenomenon. Until 1990, mortality in Lolland-Falster resembled the of Denmark as a whole. In the period 2013-2017, however, men in Lolland-Falster had a 15-25% excess mortality. In-migration contributed substantially to this development, since in-migrating people of working age in 2008-2017 had a 134% excess mortality. Prevention of excess mortality in Lolland-Falster requires a national effort.

Geography of COVID-19 in Denmark.

Aim: To investigate the COVID-19 situation across geographical areas of Denmark over time. Methods: We used COVID-19 data from the Danish State Serum Institute on national, regional and municipality level. Cumulative number of tests, incidence, hospitalizations and deaths per 100,000 inhabitants were analysed for the five Danish regions and for all of Denmark. The cumulative number of tested and incidence of COVID-19 per 100,000 was compared for the two municipalities, Lolland and Gentofte. A sensitivity analysis of the COVID-19 indicators on a regional level was performed using number of tested as the denominator. Results: The Capital Region ranked highest on all analysed COVID-19 indicators with 10,849 tested, 365 cases, 63 hospitalized and 18 deaths per 100,000 by 2 June 2020. The three regions in western Denmark all had low levels, while Region Zealand ranked second highest. Despite general low health status in Lolland municipality, the cumulative incidence of COVID-19 was consistently below that of Gentofte. Sensitivity analysis showed that the Capital Region had the highest number of COVID-19 cases per 100,000 tested, but Region Zealand had a higher number of hospitalized and similar number of deaths per 100,000 tested as the Capital Region over time. Conclusion: COVID-19 had affected eastern Denmark, especially the Capital Region, considerably more than western Denmark. The difference may relate to population density and housing conditions.