Estimating Total Excess Mortality During a Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak in Stockholm, Sweden

Ville N Pimenoff; Miriam Elfström; Iacopo Baussano; Mikael Björnstedt; Joakim Dillner

doi:10.1093/cid/ciaa1593

Estimating Total Excess Mortality During a Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak in Stockholm, Sweden

Clin Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 1;72(11):e890-e892. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciaa1593.

Authors

Ville N Pimenoff^{1

2}, Miriam Elfström^{1

3}, Iacopo Baussano⁴, Mikael Björnstedt^{1

3}, Joakim Dillner^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pathology, Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
² Department of Infectious Disease Control and Vaccination, Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
³ Department of Pathology and Cytology, Karolinska University Laboratory, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden.
⁴ International Agency for Research on Cancer, Lyon, France.

Abstract

Total excess mortality peaked during a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in Stockholm, but 25% of these deaths were not recognized as COVID-19 related nor occurred in hospitals. Estimate of total excess mortality may give a more comprehensive picture of the total disease burden during a COVID-19 outbreak, and may facilitate managing future outbreaks.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; mortality; outbreak; public health.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Disease Outbreaks
Hospitals
Humans
Mortality
SARS-CoV-2
Sweden / epidemiology

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International