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. 2020 Jul 20;91(9-S):7-18.
doi: 10.23750/abm.v91i9-S.10134.

COVID-19 mortality rate in nine high-income metropolitan regions

Carlo Signorelli  1 , Anna Odone  2 , Vincenza Gianfredi  3 , Eleonora Bossi  4 , Daria Bucci  5 , Aurea Oradini-Alacreu  6 , Beatrice Frascella  7 , Michele Capraro  8 , Federica Chiappa  9 , Lorenzo Blandi  10 , Fabio Ciceri  11
Affiliations

COVID-19 mortality rate in nine high-income metropolitan regions

Carlo Signorelli et al. Acta Biomed. .

Abstract

We analyzed the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic in 9 metropolitan regions of the world with similar socio-demographic characteristics, daytime commuting population and business activities: the New York State, Bruxelles-Capital, the Community of Madrid, Catalonia, the Île-de-France Region, the Greater London county, Stockholms län, Hovedstaden (Copenhagen) and the Lombardy Region. The Lombardy region reported the highest COVID-19 crude mortality rate (141.0 x 100,000) 70-days after the onset of the epidemic, followed by the Community of Madrid (132.8 x 100,000) New York State (120.7 x 100,000). The large variation in COVID-19 mortality and case-fatality rates for COVID-19 in different age strata suggested a more accurate analysis and interpretation of the epidemic dynamics after standardization of the rates by age. The share of elder populations (>70 years) over total population varies widely in the considered study settings, ranging from 6.9% in Catalonia to 17.0% in Lombardy. When taking age distribution into consideration the highest standardized mortality rate was observed in the State of New York (257.9 x 100,000); with figures in most of the European regions concentrated between 123.3 x 100,000 in Greater London and 177.7 x 100,000 in Bruxelles-Capital, lower in French and Danish regions. We also report and critical appraise, when available, COVID-19 mortality figures in capital cities, nursing homes, as well as excess mortality at country level. Our data raise awareness on the need for a more in-depth epidemiological analysis of the current COVID-19 public health emergency that further explores COVID-19 mortality determinants associated with health services delivery, community-level healthcare, testing approaches and characteristics of surveillance systems, including classification of COVID-19 deaths.

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Conflict of interest statement

Each author declares that he or she has no commercial associations (e.g. consultancies, stock ownership, equity interest, patent/licensing arrangement etc.) that might pose a conflict of interest in connection with the submitted article

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Population age distribution older than 70 years, in the nine Regions
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
70 days-Cumulative mortality rate in the nine Regions (a) crude, and (b) age-standardized
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Cumulative weekly mortality rate in the nine Regions (a) crude, and (b) age-standardized
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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