ABSTRACT
Background: The death toll after SARS-CoV-2 emergence includes deaths directly or indirectly associated with COVID-19. Mexico reported 325,415 excess deaths, 34.4% of them not directly related to COVID-19 in 2020. In this work, we aimed to analyse temporal changes in the distribution of the leading causes of mortality produced by COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico to understand excess mortality not directly related to the virus infection. Methods: We did a longitudinal retrospective study of the leading causes of mortality and their variation with respect to cause-specific expected deaths in Mexico from January 2020 through December 2021 using death certificate information. We fitted a Poisson regression model to predict cause-specific mortality during the pandemic period, based on the 2015-2019 registered mortality. We estimated excess deaths as a weekly difference between expected and observed deaths and added up for the entire period. We expressed all-cause and cause-specific excess mortality as a percentage change with respect to predicted deaths by our model. Findings: COVID-19 was the leading cause of death in 2020-2021 (439,582 deaths). All-cause total excess mortality was 600,590 deaths (38â 2% [95% CI: 36·0 to 40·4] over expected). The largest increases in cause-specific mortality, occurred in diabetes (36·8% over expected), respiratory infections (33·3%), ischaemic heart diseases (32·5%) and hypertensive diseases (25·0%). The cause-groups that experienced significant decreases with respect to the expected pre-pandemic mortality were infectious and parasitic diseases (-20·8%), skin diseases (-17·5%), non-traffic related accidents (-16·7%) and malignant neoplasm (-5·3%). Interpretation: Mortality from COVID-19 became the first cause of death in 2020-2021, the increase in other causes of death may be explained by changes in the health service utilization patterns caused by hospital conversion or fear of the population using them. Cause-misclassification cannot be ruled out. Funding: This study was funded by Conacyt.
ABSTRACT
Objetivo. Estimar el exceso de defunciones por todas las causas en México durante 2020. Material y métodos. Se construyó un canal endémico con las defunciones (2015- 2019), estableciendo el umbral epidémico en el percentil 90, y se comparó con las actas de defunción para estimar el exceso de mortalidad. Resultados. A la semana 53, ocurrieron 326 612 defunciones en exceso (45.1%), con un máximo en la semana 28 (98.0%) y un mínimo en la semana 41 (35.2%); después de la semana 4 los hombres (51.3%), principalmente de 45-64 años de edad, sin embargo, en los de 60 años o más ocurrió el mayor nú-mero de defunciones. Conclusión. En México, el exceso de mortalidad ha sido prolongado en comparación con otros países, con alta variabilidad interestatal. Esto podría deberse a las condiciones socioeconómicas y a la alta prevalencia de comorbilidades que aumentan el riesgo de morir en la población mexicana.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Mortality , Pandemics , COVID-19/mortality , Cause of Death , Female , Humans , Male , Mexico/epidemiology , Middle Aged , Mortality/trendsABSTRACT
Resumen: Objetivo: Estimar el exceso de defunciones por todas las causas en México durante 2020. Material y métodos: Se construyó un canal endémico con las defunciones (2015-2019), estableciendo el umbral epidémico en el percentil 90, y se comparó con las actas de defunción para estimar el exceso de mortalidad. Resultados: A la semana 53, ocurrieron 326 612 defunciones en exceso (45.1%), con un máximo en la semana 28 (98.0%) y un mínimo en la semana 41 (35.2%); después de la semana 42, la tendencia vuelve a ser ascendente por el resto del año. Esto fue proporcionalmente mayor en los hombres (51.3%), principalmente de 45-64 años de edad, sin embargo, en los de 60 años o más ocurrió el mayor número de defunciones. Conclusión: En México, el exceso de mortalidad ha sido prolongado en comparación con otros países, con alta variabilidad interestatal. Esto podría deberse a las condiciones socioeconómicas y a la alta prevalencia de comorbilidades que aumentan el riesgo de morir en la población mexicana.
Abstract: Objective: To estimate excess mortality from all causes in Mexico in 2020. Materials and methods: We constructed an endemic channel with deaths (2015-2018) establishing the epidemic threshold at the 90th percentile, comparing with death certificates counts to estimate excess mortality. Results: At week 53, there were 326 612 excess deaths (45.1%), with a maximum in week 28 (98.0%) and a minimum at week 41 (35.2%); after week 42, the increasing trend remained for the rest of the year. It was proportionally higher in men, mainly aged 45-64 years, however, in those aged 60 and over, the highest number of deaths occurred. Conclusion: In Mexico, excess mortality has been prolonged compared to other countries, with high interstate variability. This could be explained by socioeconomic conditions and the high prevalence of comorbidities in the Mexican population.
