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Review
. 2022 Jun:3:54-67.
doi: 10.1016/j.ijregi.2022.02.010. Epub 2022 Feb 27.

Factors associated with differential COVID-19 mortality rates in the SEAR nations: a narrative review

Rubina Mulchandani  1 , Giridhara R Babu  2   3 , Avinash Kaur  1 , Ranjana Singh  1 , Tanica Lyngdoh  1   4
Affiliations
Review

Factors associated with differential COVID-19 mortality rates in the SEAR nations: a narrative review

Rubina Mulchandani et al. IJID Reg. 2022 Jun.

Abstract

Objectives: Since December 2019, the world has been grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused severe loss of lives, the breakdown of health infrastructure, and disruption of the global economy. There is growing evidence on mortality patterns in high-income countries. However, similar evidence from low/middle-income nations is lacking. Our review aimed to describe COVID-19 mortality patterns in the WHO-SEAR nations, and explore the associated factors in order to explain such trends.

Methods: A systematic and comprehensive search was undertaken in PubMed and Google Scholar to obtain maximum hits on COVID-19 mortality and its determinants in the SEAR, using a combination of MeSH terms and Boolean operators. The data were narratively synthesized in detail under appropriate themes.

Results: Our search identified 6411 unique records. Mortality patterns were described in terms of important demographical and epidemiological indicators. Gaps in available evidence and paucity of adequate research in this area were also highlighted.

Conclusions: This review examined significant contributors to COVID-19 mortality across SEAR nations, while emphasizing issues relating to insufficient studies and data quality, and reporting challenges and other concerns in resource-constrained settings. There is a compelling need for more work in this area, to help inform decision making and improve public-health response.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have influenced the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly deaths per million for the SEAR countries, from March 2020 to June 2021
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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