Project description:ObjectiveTo address the issue of limited national data on the prevalence and distribution of underlying conditions among COVID-19 deaths between sexes and across age groups.Patients and methodsAll adult (≥18 years) deaths recorded in England and Wales (March 1, 2020, to May 12, 2020) were analyzed retrospectively. We compared the prevalence of underlying health conditions between COVID and non-COVID-related deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic and the age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) of COVID-19 compared with other primary causes of death, stratified by sex and age group.ResultsOf 144,279 adult deaths recorded during the study period, 36,438 (25.3%) were confirmed COVID deaths. Women represented 43.2% (n=15,731) of COVID deaths compared with 51.9% (n=55,980) in non-COVID deaths. Overall, COVID deaths were younger than non-COVID deaths (82 vs 83 years). ASMR of COVID-19 was higher than all other common primary causes of death, across age groups and sexes, except for cancers in women between the ages of 30 and 79 years. A linear relationship was observed between ASMR and age among COVID-19 deaths, with persistently higher rates in men than women across all age groups. The most prevalent reported conditions were hypertension, dementia, chronic lung disease, and diabetes, and these were higher among COVID deaths. Pre-existing ischemic heart disease was similar in COVID (11.4%) and non-COVID (12%) deaths.ConclusionIn a nationwide analysis, COVID-19 infection was associated with higher age-standardized mortality than other primary causes of death, except cancer in women of select age groups. COVID-19 mortality was persistently higher in men and increased with advanced age.
Project description:BACKGROUND:To explore time trends in deaths attributable to work in England and Wales, and identify priorities for prevention, we conducted a proportional analysis of mortality by occupation over a 22-year period. METHODS:Analysis was based on deaths in men aged 20-74 years during 1979-1980 and 1982-2000 with a recorded occupation. Proportional mortality ratios, standardised for age and social class, were calculated for pre-specified combinations of occupation and cause of death, for which excess mortality could reasonably be attributed to work. Differences between observed and expected numbers of deaths by cause and occupation were expressed as annual excess death rates. RESULTS:Mortality attributable to work declined substantially over the period of study, with total excess death rates of 733.2 per year during 1979-1990 and 471.7 per year during 1991-2000. The largest contributing hazards were chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumoconiosis in coal miners, pleural cancer from asbestos, and motor vehicle accidents in lorry drivers. In contrast to most other hazards, there was no clear decline in excess mortality attributable to asbestos, or in deaths from sino-nasal cancer associated with exposure to wood dust. CONCLUSIONS:The overall decline in mortality attributable to work is likely to reflect reduced employment in more hazardous occupations, as well as improvements in working conditions. It is imperative to ensure that occupational exposures to asbestos and wood dust are now adequately controlled. Further research is needed on accidents involving lorries with the aim of developing more effective strategies for the prevention of injury.
Project description:BackgroundLittle has been reported on mortality following admissions at weekends for many gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. The aim was to establish whether GI disorders are susceptible to increased mortality following unscheduled admission on weekends compared with weekdays.MethodsRecord linkage was undertaken of national administrative inpatient and mortality data for people in England and Wales who were hospitalized as an emergency for one of 19 major GI disorders.ResultsThe study included 2 254 701 people in England and 155 464 in Wales. For 11 general surgical and medical GI disorders there were little, or no, significant weekend effects on mortality at 30 days in either country. There were large consistent weekend effects in both countries for severe liver disease (England: 26·2 (95 per cent c.i. 21·1 to 31·6) per cent; Wales: 32·0 (12·4 to 55·1 per cent) and GI cancer (England: 21·8 (19·1 to 24·5) per cent; Wales: 25·0 (15·0 to 35·9) per cent), which were lower in patients managed by surgeons. Admission rates were lower at weekends than on weekdays, most strongly for severe liver disease (by 43·3 per cent in England and 51·4 per cent in Wales) and GI cancer (by 44·6 and 52·8 per cent respectively). Both mortality and the weekend mortality effect for GI cancer were lower for patients managed by surgeons.DiscussionThere is little, or no, evidence of a weekend mortality effect for most major general surgical or medical GI disorders, but large weekend effects for GI cancer and severe liver disease. Lower admission rates at weekends indicate more severe cases. The findings for severe liver disease may suggest a lack of specialist hepatological resources. For cancers, reduced availability of end-of-life care in the community at weekends may be the cause.
Project description:BackgroundThis study examines associations between sex composition of older siblings and infant mortality by sex, to guide efforts to address excess female infant mortality in India.MethodsWe conducted a retrospective cross-sectional study of infant mortality in India using four waves of data from the nationally-representative National Family Health Survey, collected between 1992 and 2016 (unweighted N = 338,504 for children aged 1-5). We used sex-stratified multivariable logistic regression models to assess the associations between sex composition of older siblings and risk of infant mortality.FindingsMale infants with two living older sisters and no living older brothers had lower odds of infant mortality relative to those with one living older brother (e.g., 2015-16 AOR 0.62, 95% CI 0.50-0.76); this effect was significant for boys across all waves of data but was not seen for girls in any wave. Exploratory models focused on third order births found that boys were less likely than girls to die in infancy if born subsequent to two older sisters (2015-16 AOR 0.48, 95% CI 0.31-0.74); analysis of crude prevalence data indicated that this converts into a 64% greater risk for infant mortality for girls relative to boys in this third-order group.InterpretationHigher birth order males with older sisters have greater protection against infant mortality, a finding that has persisted for over 25 years. To address ongoing gender inequities in infant survival in India, greater focus is needed to support higher birth order girls and social norm movements against son preference.
Project description:Within the UK, child mortality from all causes has declined for all ages over the last three decades. However, distinct inequality remains, as child mortality rates are generally found to be higher in males. A significant proportion of childhood deaths in the UK occur in Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU). We studied the association of sex with infant mortality in PICUs. We included all infants (0 to 12 months old) admitted to UK PICUs from 01/01/2005 to 31/12/2015 using the Paediatric Intensive Care Audit Network (PICANet) dataset. We considered first admissions to PICU and fitted a cause-specific-hazard-ratio (CSHR) model, and a logistic model to estimate the adjusted association between sex and mortality in PICU. Pre-defined subgroups were children less than 56-days old, and those with a primary diagnosis of infection. Of 71,243 cases, 1,411/29,520 (4.8%) of females, and 1,809/41,723 (4.3%) of males died. The adjusted male/female CSHR was 0.87 (95%-CI 0.81 to 0.92) representing a 13% higher risk of death for females. The adjusted OR for male to female mortality is 0.86 (95%-CI 0.80 to 0.93). Analyses in subgroups yielded similar findings. In our analysis, female infants have a higher rate of PICU mortality compared to male infants.
Project description:The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed many lives in the UK and globally. The objective of this paper is to study whether the number of deaths not registered as Covid-19-related has increased compared to what would have been expected in the absence of the pandemic. Reasons behind this might include Covid-19 underreporting, avoiding visits to hospitals or GPs, and the effects of the lockdown. I used weekly ONS data on the number of deaths in England and Wales that did not officially involve Covid-19 over the period 2015-2020. Simply observing trends is not sufficient as spikes in deaths may occasionally occur. I thus followed a difference-in-differences econometric approach to study whether there was a relative increase in deaths not registered as Covid-19-related during the pandemic, compared to a control. Results suggest that there were an additional 968 weekly deaths that officially did not involve Covid-19, compared to what would have otherwise been expected. It is possible that some people are dying from Covid-19 without being diagnosed, and/or that there are excess deaths due to other causes as a result of the pandemic. Analysing the cause of death for any excess non-covid-19 deaths will shed light upon the reasons for the increase in such deaths and will help design appropriate policy responses to save lives.
Project description:ObjectiveTo determine the association between Medicaid expansion and infant mortality rate (IMR) in the United States.Data sourcesState-level aggregate data on US IMR, race, and sex were abstracted from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research.Study designThe association between Medicaid expansion and IMR adjusted for race and sex was assessed with multiple linear regression models using difference-in-differences estimation and Huber-White robust standard errors.Principal findingsDifference-in-differences regression found no association between Medicaid expansion status and change in national IMR from 2010 to 2017 (Coef. = 0.04; 95% CI: -0.39, 0.46). However, among Hispanics, the program was found to be associated with reduction in IMR (Diff-in-Diff Coef. = -0.53; 95% CI: -1.02, -0.03).ConclusionsOverall, the Affordable Care Act-induced Medicaid expansion was not associated with IMR reduction in expansion states relative to nonexpansion states. However, the program was associated with a significant IMR decline among Hispanics.
Project description:BackgroundMandatory joint police and healthcare investigations of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) have been in place since 2008 in England. These include death scene examination with cause of death determined at multiprofessional case conference. Detailed evidence on sleep arrangements is available for most cases potentially leading to more being identified as due to accidental suffocation. SUDI remaining unexplained following investigation are classified as SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) or unspecified deaths.Our objective was to determine whether detailed SUDI investigation has led to an increase in deaths classified as accidental suffocation or strangulation in bed (ASSB)?MethodsWe obtained official mortality data for England and Wales for infants dying aged 0-364 days for International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th revision codes R95 (SIDS), R96, R98, R99 (unspecified causes of mortality) and W75 (ASSB) for the years 2000-2019.We calculated the mortality rate for ASSB, SIDS and unspecified causes based on total live births each year.ResultsUnexplained SUDI decreased from 353 in 2000 to 175 in 2019, with the mortality rate falling from 0.58 to 0.29 per 1000 live births. The total postneonatal mortality rate fell during this time from 1.9 to 0.9 per 1000 live births suggesting this is a genuine fall. SIDS accounted for 70% of unexplained SUDI in 2000 falling to 49% in 2020 with a corresponding increase in R99 unspecified deaths.Few deaths were recorded as ASSB (W75), ranging between 4 in 2010 and 24 in 2001. The rate for ASSB ranged from 0.6 to 4.0 per 100000 live births.ConclusionsThere is a shift away from SIDS (R95) towards unspecified causes of death (R96, R98, R99). Improved investigation of deaths has not led to increased numbers of death identified as due to ASSB. There needs to be clear guidelines on accurate classification of deaths from ASSB to facilitate learning from deaths and inform prevention efforts.
Project description:ObjectivesTo monitor the impact of health and safety provisions and inform future preventive strategies, we investigated trends in mortality from established occupational hazards in England and Wales.MethodsWe analysed data from death certificates on underlying cause of death and last full-time occupation for 3 688 916 deaths among men aged 20-74 years in England and Wales during 1979-2010 (excluding 1981 when records were incomplete). Proportional mortality ratios (PMRs), standardised for age and social class, were calculated for occupations at risk of specified hazards. Observed and expected numbers of deaths for each hazard were summed across occupations, and the differences summarised as average annual excesses.ResultsExcess mortality declined substantially for most hazards. For example, the annual excess of deaths from chronic bronchitis and emphysema fell from 170.7 during 1979-1990 to 36.0 in 2001-2010, and that for deaths from injury and poisoning from 237.0 to 87.5. In many cases, the improvements were associated with falling PMRs (suggesting safer working practices), but they also reflected reductions in the numbers of men employed in more hazardous jobs, and declining mortality from some diseases across the whole population. Notable exceptions to the general improvement were diseases caused by asbestos, especially in some construction trades and sinonasal cancer in woodworkers.ConclusionsThe highest priority for future prevention of work-related fatalities is the minority of occupational disorders for which excess mortality remains static or is increasing, in particular asbestos-related disease among certain occupations in the construction industry and sinonasal cancer in woodworkers.