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. 2023 Jun;16(6):884-892.
doi: 10.1016/j.jiph.2023.03.028. Epub 2023 Mar 29.

Disease burden due to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) with implication of Monte Carlo simulations

Hsin-Chieh Tsai  1 , Ying-Fei Yang  2 , Pei-Juan Pan  1 , Szu-Chieh Chen  3
Affiliations

Disease burden due to COVID-19 in Taiwan: Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) with implication of Monte Carlo simulations

Hsin-Chieh Tsai et al. J Infect Public Health. 2023 Jun.

Abstract

Background: The novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected a large number of countries. Informing the public and decision makers of the COVID-19's economic burdens is essential for understanding the real pandemic impact.

Methods: COVID-19 premature mortality and disability impact in Taiwan was analyzed using the Taiwan National Infectious Disease Statistics System (TNIDSS) by estimating the sex/age-specific years of life lost through death (YLLs), the number of years lived with disability (YLDs), and the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) from January 2020 to November 2021.

Results: Taiwan recorded 1004.13 DALYs (95% CI: 1002.75-1005.61) per 100,000 population for COVID-19, with YLLs accounting for 99.5% (95% CI: 99.3%99.6%) of all DALYs, with males suffering more from the disease than females. For population aged ≥ 70 years, the disease burdens of YLDs and YLLs were 0.1% and 99.9%, respectively. Furthermore, we found that duration of disease in critical state contributed 63.9% of the variance in DALY estimations.

Conclusions: The nationwide estimation of DALYs in Taiwan provides insights into the demographic distributions and key epidemiological parameter for DALYs. The essentiality of enforcing protective precautions when needed is also implicated. The higher YLLs percentage in DALYs also revealed the fact of high confirmed death rates in Taiwan. To reduce infection risks and disease, it is crucial to maintain moderate social distancing, border control, hygiene measures, and increase vaccine coverage levels.

Keywords: Cost of illness; Disability weight; Monte Carlo simulation; Public Health; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have declared that no competing interest exists.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
(A, B) Daily cumulative and reported cases of SARS-CoV-2 from 2020 to 2021 in Taiwan. (C, D) Daily new deaths and cumulative number of deaths in Taiwan from January 2020 to April 2021.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
(A, B) Age- and gender-specific estimations for years lived with disability (YLDs) per 100,000 population for COVID-19 in Taiwan during the study period from January 2020 to November 2021. (C, D) Box-and-whisker plots of estimated YLDs per 100,000 population stratified by different age and gender groups. The whiskers indicate the 5th – 95th percentiles and the box covers the 25th – 75th percentiles of YLDs. The horizontal line that splits the box denotes median (50th percentiles).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
(A, B) Age- and gender-specific estimations for DALYs per 100,000 population for COVID-19 in Taiwan during the study period from January 2020 to November 2021.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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