Publication: Reduction in life expectancy in Brazil after COVID-19
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Date
2021-06-29
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Springer Science and Business Media LLC
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Citation
Castro, Marcia, Susan Gurzenda, Cassio M. Turra, Sun Kim, Theresa Andrasfay, Noreen Goldman, Goldman. "Reduction in life expectancy in Brazil after COVID-19." Nature Medicine 27, no. 9 (2021): 1629-1635. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-021-01437-z
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Abstract
Brazil has been heavily impacted by COVID-19. We use data on reported total deaths in 2020 and in Jan-Apr 2021 to measure and compare the death toll across states. We estimate a decline in 2020 life expectancy at birth (e0) of 1.3 years, a mortality level not seen since 2014. The reduction in life expectancy at age 65 (e65) in 2020 was 0.9 year, setting Brazil back to 2012 levels. The decline was larger for males, widening by 9.1% the female-male gap in e0. Among states, Amazonas lost 60.4% of the improvements in e0 since 2000. In the first four months of 2021, COVID-19 deaths represented 107% of the total 2020 figures. Assuming that death rates would have been equal to 2019 all-cause rates in the absence of COVID-19, COVID-19 deaths in 2021 have already reduced e0 in 2021 by 1.8 years, which is slightly larger than the reduction estimated for 2020 under similar assumptions.
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Co-authors from other institutions:
Dr. Cassio M Turra (Demography Department, Cedeplar, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG 31270-901, Brazil)
Dr. Theresa Andrasfay (Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA)
Dr. Noreen Goldman (Office of Population Research and Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA)
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Keywords
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology, General Medicine
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