We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Changes in all-cause and cause-specific excess mortality before and after the Omicron outbreak of COVID-19 in Hong Kong.
- Authors
Ka Chun Chong; Chan, Paul K. S.; Chi Tim Hung; Wong, Carlos K. H.; Xi Xiong; Yuchen Wei; Shi Zhao; Zihao Guo; Huwen Wang; Yam, Carrie H. K.; Tsz Yu Chow; Conglu Li; Xiaoting Jiang; Shuk Yu Leung; Ka Li Kwok; Eng Kiong Yeoh; Kehang Li
- Abstract
Background While coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) deaths were generally underestimated in many countries, Hong Kong may show a different trend of excess mortality due to stringent measures, especially for deaths related to respiratory diseases. Nevertheless, the Omicron outbreak in Hong Kong evolved into a territory-wide transmission, similar to other settings such as Singapore, South Korea, and recently, mainland China. We hypothesized that the excess mortality would differ substantially before and after the Omicron outbreak. Methods We conducted a time-series analysis of daily deaths stratified by age, reported causes, and epidemic wave. We determined the excess mortality from the difference between observed and expected mortality from 23 January 2020 to 1 June 2022 by fitting mortality data from 2013 to 2019. Results During the early phase of the pandemic, the estimated excess mortality was -19.92 (95% confidence interval (CI) = -29.09, -10.75) and -115.57 (95% CI = -161.34, -69.79) per 100 000 population overall and for the elderly, respectively. However, the overall excess mortality rate was 234.08 (95% CI = 224.66, 243.50) per 100 000 population overall and as high as 928.09 (95% CI = 885.14, 971.04) per 100 000 population for the elderly during the Omicron epidemic. We generally observed negative excess mortality rates of non-COVID-19 respiratory diseases before and after the Omicron outbreak. In contrast, increases in excess mortality were generally reported in non-respiratory diseases after the Omicron outbreak. Conclusions Our results highlighted the averted mortality before 2022 among the elderly and patients with non-COVID-19 respiratory diseases, due to indirect benefits from stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions. The high excess mortality during the Omicron epidemic demonstrated a significant impact from the surge of COVID-19 infections in a SARS-CoV-2 infection-naive population, particularly evident in the elderly group.
- Subjects
HONG Kong (China); CAUSES of death; COVID-19; GENETIC mutation; CONFIDENCE intervals; RESEARCH funding; TIME series analysis; DESCRIPTIVE statistics
- Publication
Journal of Global Health, 2023, Vol 13, p1
- ISSN
2047-2978
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7189/jogh.13.06017