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Abstract

Background

It sparked considerable attention from international media when Denmark lifted restrictions against COVID-19 in February 2022 amidst widespread transmission of the new SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and a steep rise in reported COVID-19 mortality based on the 30-day COVID-19 death count.

Aim

Our aim was to investigate how coincidental infections affected COVID-19 mortality estimates following the introduction of the Omicron variant in late 2021.

Methods

We compared the 30-day COVID-19 death count with the observed mortality using three alternative mortality estimation methods; (i) a mathematical model to correct the 30-day COVID-19 death count for coincidental deaths, (ii) the Causes of Death Registry (CDR) and (iii) all-cause excess mortality.

Results

There was a substantial peak in the 30-day COVID-19 death count following the emergence of the Omicron variant in late 2021. However, there was also a substantial change in the proportion of coincidental deaths, increasing from 10–20% to around 40% of the recorded COVID-19 deaths. The high number of 30-day COVID-19 deaths was not reflected in the number of COVID-19 deaths in the CDR and the all-cause excess mortality surveillance.

Conclusion

Our analysis showed a distinct change in the mortality pattern following the introduction of Omicron in late 2021 with a markedly higher proportion of people estimated to have died rather than COVID-19 compared with mortality patterns observed earlier in the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings highlight the importance of incorporating alternative mortality surveillance methods to more correctly estimate the burden of COVID-19 as the pandemic continues to evolve.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547
2023-01-19
2024-12-03
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547
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COVID-19 mortality attenuated during widespread Omicron transmission, Denmark, 2020 to 2022
<p class="citation"> <span>Citation style for this article:</span> <span class="meta-value authors"> <a href="/search?value1=Nikolaj+U+Friis&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Friis Nikolaj U</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Tomas+Martin-Bertelsen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Martin-Bertelsen Tomas</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Rasmus+K+Pedersen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Pedersen Rasmus K</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Jens+Nielsen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Nielsen Jens</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Tyra+G+Krause&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Krause Tyra G</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Viggo+Andreasen&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Andreasen Viggo</a>, <a href="/search?value1=Lasse+S+Vestergaard&option1=author&noRedirect=true" class="nonDisambigAuthorLink">Vestergaard Lasse S</a></span>. COVID-19 mortality attenuated during widespread Omicron transmission, Denmark, 2020 to 2022. <a href="/content/ecdc">Euro Surveill.</a> 2023;28(3):pii=2200547. <a href="https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547" title="doi link" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547</a> <span class="ES_Article_citation"> <span class="generated">Received</span>: 07 Jul 2022;&nbsp;&nbsp; <span class="generated">Accepted</span>: 03 Nov 2022 </span> </p>
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547
/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.3.2200547
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