Mortality in Cyprus Over the Period 2016-2021

Abstract

Background Mortality in the general population is one of the most robust measures used to examine epidemiological trends over time and especially over periods of public health crises such as the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Methodology In this study, we analyzed information reported by the Cyprus Ministry of Health to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat), which includes weekly all-cause mortality over the period 2016-2021. In addition, we used data collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control regarding daily reported COVID-19 cases and COVID-19-related deaths. Results Based on our data analysis, we observed a substantial increase of 9.7% in all-cause mortality in Cyprus in 2021 compared to 2020, with an overall mortality increase of 16.5% in 2021 compared to the mean mortality of the previous five years. Particularly, we documented a sharp increase over the third and the fourth quarters of the year 2021. Conclusions The substantial increase in mortality in Cyprus in 2021 is not entirely explained by COVID-19 deaths and is parallel to the concurrent vaccination campaign. This concerning observation should be comprehensively investigated by the National and European public health authorities to identify and address the underlying causes.

Keywords: covid-19; cyprus; epidemic; excess deaths; mortality.

Figure 1. Number of all-cause deaths over time in Cyprus for the period 2016-2021. The figure illustrates the number of all-cause deaths during the first quarter (top-left panel), second quarter (top-right panel), third quarter (bottom-left panel), and fourth quarter (bottom-right panel) of each year. The upper level of each bar indicates the total number of deaths from all causes while the darker gray in the years 2020 and 2021 indicates the proportion of COVID-19 deaths.

COVID-19: coronavirus disease 2019