Preprint
Global years of life lost to COVID-19
Pifarré i Arolas, H.,
Acosta, E., Casasnovas, G. L., Lo, A., Nicodemo, C.,
Riffe, T.,
Myrskylä, M.medRxiv preprints
14 pages.
medRxiv
originally posted on: 20 June 2020 (2020), unpublished
Abstract
Understanding the mortality impact of COVID-19 requires not only counting the dead, but analyzing how premature the deaths are. We calculate years of life lost (YLL) across 42 countries due to COVID-19 attributable deaths, and also conduct an analysis based on estimated excess deaths. As of June 13th 2020, YLL in heavily affected countries are 2 to 6 times the average seasonal influenza; over two thirds of the YLL result from deaths in ages below 75 and one quarter from deaths below 55; and men have lost 47% more life years than women. The results confirm the large mortality impact of COVID-19 among the elderly. They also call for heightened awareness in devising policies that protect vulnerable demographics losing the largest number of life-years.