Assessing excess mortality in Vienna and Austria after the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Bauer, Ramon; Speringer, Markus; Frühwirt, Peter; Seidl, Roman; Trautinger, Franz

doi:10.1553/populationyearbook2022.dat.1

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…During the two lockdown periods, there was a significant negative correlation between the O 3 concentrations and the NO 2 and CO (p < 0.01) concentrations (Table 2). Similar findings have been reported in other studies on COVID-19 lockdowns, such as those conducted in the Yangtze River Delta region of China [10] and Vienna, Austria [16]. It should be noticed that NO and NO 2 play crucial roles in both the production and consumption of O 3 within the atmospheric boundary layer.…”

Section: Interplay Of Air Pollutants During the Two Covid-19 Lockdown...supporting

confidence: 89%

“…This provides a rare opportunity to study the seasonal variation of urban air pollutants under lockdown conditions. Under identical lockdown conditions, the disparity in air pollution between winter and spring was attributed to meteorological factors [15] as well as interactions among air pollutants [10,16,17]. It showed that the average temperature during the spring lockdown period in 2022 reached 18.69 • C, which was 11.74 • C higher than that during the winter lockdown period in 2019, and the monthly precipitation was 72.00 mm higher during the spring lockdown period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparison of Air Pollutants during the Two COVID-19 Lockdown Periods in Winter 2019 and Spring 2022 in Shanghai, China

Li,

Yang,

Zhang

2024

Atmosphere

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During the winter of 2019, the global outbreak of COVID-19 prompted extensive research on urban air pollution under lockdown measures. However, these studies predominantly focused on winter conditions, thereby limiting investigations into changes in urban air pollutants during other seasons that were also subject to lockdown restrictions. Shanghai, China, has undergone two COVID-19 lockdown periods in two seasons: winter 2019 and spring 2022. The seasonal variations and human activities were represented by meteorological factors and nighttime light brightness in this paper, respectively. The reduction in human-related emissions during the two lockdown periods was estimated based on the targets outlined in China’s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan. The results showed significant reductions in NO2 and PM particles during the two lockdown periods, both accompanied by a notable increase in O3 concentration. In comparison to the winter lockdown, there was an approximate 40% decrease in the NO2 and PM2.5 concentrations in the spring, while the O3 concentration exhibited an increase of 48.81%. Furthermore, due to shifting wind patterns during the two lockdowns from winter to spring, the high-pollution core areas shifted 20–25 km southeastward in the spring. The PM particles and NO2 concentrations exhibited a considerable impact from human activities, whereas the O3 concentration was affected mostly by seasonal change and interactions among air pollutants. Compared to the corresponding non-lockdown condition, the concentration of CO decreased during the winter lockdown; however, it increased during the spring lockdown. The different change in CO concentration during the two lockdown periods was found to have a lower effect on the O3 concentration than that caused by changes in meteorological factors and nitrogen oxide (NO, NO2) concentrations. In summary, the impact of COVID-19 lockdown periods on urban air pollutants was more pronounced in spring compared to winter, and the interactions among air pollutants also underwent alterations.

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Section: Interplay Of Air Pollutants During the Two Covid-19 Lockdown...supporting

confidence: 89%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of Air Pollutants during the Two COVID-19 Lockdown Periods in Winter 2019 and Spring 2022 in Shanghai, China

Li,

Yang,

Zhang

2024

Atmosphere

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“…In all of the previous studies except a recent study [ 12 ] concerning Austria, only the estimated increase in all-cause deaths was reported, without examining whether the estimated increase exceeds the usual variation in mortality found across previous years. Even in the most recent study of Levitt et al [ 13 ] where a multiverse analysis approach was used that considered several different periods for defining the reference baseline used to estimate the number of expected deaths, only the variation in excess mortality estimates across different reference baselines was reported, but the variation in mortality across the years used as the reference baseline was not examined.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Excess Mortality in Germany During 2020-2022

Kuhbandner¹,

Reitzner²

2023

Cureus

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Background This study estimates the burden of COVID-19 on mortality in Germany. It is expected that many people have died because of the new COVID-19 virus who otherwise would not have died. Estimating the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality by the number of officially reported COVID-19-related deaths has been proven to be difficult due to several reasons. Because of this, a better approach, which has been used in many studies, is to estimate the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic by calculating the excess mortality for the pandemic years. An advantage of such an approach is that additional negative impacts of a pandemic on mortality are covered as well, such as a possible pandemic-induced strain on the healthcare system. Methods To calculate the excess mortality in Germany for the pandemic years 2020 to 2022, we compare the reported number of all-cause deaths (i.e., the number of deaths independently of underlying causes) with the number of statistically expected all-cause deaths. For this, the state-of-the-art method of actuarial science, based on population tables, life tables, and longevity trends, is used to estimate the expected number of all-cause deaths from 2020 to 2022 if there had been no pandemic. Results The results show that the observed number of deaths in 2020 was close to the expected number with respect to the empirical standard deviation; approximately 4,000 excess deaths occurred. By contrast, in 2021, the observed number of deaths was two empirical standard deviations above the expected number and even more than four times the empirical standard deviation in 2022. In total, the number of excess deaths in the year 2021 is about 34,000 and in 2022 about 66,000 deaths, yielding a cumulated 100,000 excess deaths in both years. The high excess mortality in 2021 and 2022 was mainly due to an increase in deaths in the age groups between 15 and 79 years and started to accumulate only from April 2021 onward. A similar mortality pattern was observed for stillbirths with an increase of about 9.4% in the second quarter and 19.4% in the fourth quarter of the year 2021 compared to previous years. Conclusions These findings indicate that something must have happened in spring 2021 that led to a sudden and sustained increase in mortality, although no such effects on mortality had been observed during the early COVID-19 pandemic so far. Possible influencing factors are explored in the discussion.

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“…Among the first to analyze the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic from a demographic perspective and underscore the excessive increases in mortality, correlating this increase with the waves of the pandemic, were the Austrian researchers Bauer et al (Bauer, R. & Trautinger, F., 2022). In their work, the existence of regional heterogeneity was also demonstrated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic in Moldova

Pahomii

2023

Economy and Sociology

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The study aims to highlight changes in mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic in Moldova. Two sources of data were used: the National Bureau of Statistics database for overall mortality and mortality by major and specific causes of death and the Ministry of Health for Covid-19 deaths. The primary analysis methods applied in the research were direct mortality standardization and the decomposition of the difference in life expectancy. The results show that the Covid-19 pandemic caused a substantial increase in the number of deaths, which lead to a significant decrease in life expectancy in both sexes. The results emphasize an increase in mortality due to diseases of the cardiovascular system and diseases of the respiratory system. The more detailed analysis of the major causes of death increased during the pandemic period showed an increase in mortality due to coronary atherosclerosis and acute pneumonia, contrary to the trends existing in the pre-pandemic period. It is important to note that mortality due to Covid-19 was higher than major leading causes of death before the pandemic period. The decomposition of changes in life expectancy between the years 2021 and 2019 by age shows quite similar age profiles between sexes, indicating the pandemic's direct and indirect impact on the dynamic of mortality. The effect of the Covid-19 pandemic on mortality, but also on the health of the population, is much more complex, requiring further research to identify prompt and effective responses.

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Assessing excess mortality in Vienna and Austria after the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic

Cited by 4 publications

References 9 publications

Comparison of Air Pollutants during the Two COVID-19 Lockdown Periods in Winter 2019 and Spring 2022 in Shanghai, China

Comparison of Air Pollutants during the Two COVID-19 Lockdown Periods in Winter 2019 and Spring 2022 in Shanghai, China

Estimation of Excess Mortality in Germany During 2020-2022

Changes in mortality during the Covid-19 pandemic in Moldova

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