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. 2024 May 13;70(4):e20231466.
doi: 10.1590/1806-9282.20231466. eCollection 2024.

Mortality related to sickle cell disease and COVID-19 in Brazil, 2020

Augusto Hasiak Santo  1
Affiliations

Mortality related to sickle cell disease and COVID-19 in Brazil, 2020

Augusto Hasiak Santo. Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). .

Abstract

Objective: The ability to cause death is the definitive measure of an infectious disease severity, particularly one caused by a novel pathogen like severe acute respiratory syndrome-CoV-2 (COVID-19). This study describes sickle cell disease-related mortality issues during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

Methods: The provisional 2020 mortality data originated from the public databases of the Mortality Information System and were investigated using the multiple-cause-of-death methodology.

Results: In 2020, 688 sickle cell disease-related deaths occurred, of which 422 (61.3%) had an underlying cause of death and 266 (38.7%) had an associated cause of death. Furthermore, 98 COVID-19-related deaths occurred, of which 78 were underlying cause of death among sickle cell disease associated (non-underlying) cause of death. Sickle cell disease-related deaths occurred mostly among young adults aged 25-49 years. COVID-19 deaths occurred at ages older than among sickle cell disease-related deaths. Majority of deaths happened in the southeast (42.3%) and northeast regions (34.0%), while COVID-19 deaths prevailed in the northeast region (42.9%). Regarding overall deaths, the leading underlying cause of death was sickle cell disease itself, followed by infectious and parasitic diseases (14.8%), owing to COVID-19 deaths, and diseases of the circulatory system (8.9%). Next, in males, diseases of the digestive system (4.8%) occurred, while, in females, maternal deaths succeeded, included in the chapter on pregnancy, childbirth, and the puerperium, accounting for 5.9% of female deaths. The leading overall associated (non-underlying) cause of deaths were septicemias (29.4%), followed by respiratory failure (20.9%), pneumonias (18.3%), and renal failure (14.7%).

Conclusion: In Brazil, COVID-19 deaths produced trend changes in sickle cell disease-related causes of death, age at death, and regional distribution of deaths in 2020.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of interest: the authors declare there is no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Age-standardized death rates related to sickle cell disease according to causes of death and sex in Brazil, 2000–2020.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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