Years of life lost due to deaths of despair and COVID-19 in the United States in 2020: patterns of excess mortality by gender, race and ethnicity

International Journal for Equity in Health

Research

Leon Brodsky¹  Stephanie Garcia²  Jeanette M. Tetrault³  Ayana Jordan⁴  O. Trent Hall⁵  Megan Deaner⁵  Julie Teater⁵  Nasra Mohamed⁵  Parker Entrup⁵  Candice Trimble⁵  J. P. Martell⁶ 

[1] College of Medicine, the Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA;Department of General Surgery, OU-Physicians, Tulsa, OK, USA;Department of Internal Medicine, Program in Addiction Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA;Department of Population Health NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York City, NY, USA;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center Talbot Hall, 181 Taylor Ave., 43203, Columbus, OH, USA;Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Kansas Health System, Kansas City, KS, USA;

关键词: COVID-19;    Addiction Medicine;    Substance Use;    Epidemiology;    Mortality;    Mental Health;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12939-023-01949-9

 received in 2023-04-05, accepted in 2023-07-02,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIn 2020 COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the United States. Increases in suicides, overdoses, and alcohol related deaths were seen—which make up deaths of despair. How deaths of despair compare to COVID-19 across racial, ethnic, and gender subpopulations is relatively unknown. Preliminary studies showed inequalities in COVID-19 mortality for Black and Hispanic Americans in the pandemic's onset. This study analyzes the racial, ethnic and gender disparities in years of life lost due to COVID-19 and deaths of despair (suicide, overdose, and alcohol deaths) in 2020.MethodsThis cross-sectional study calculated and compared years of life lost (YLL) due to Deaths of Despair and COVID-19 by gender, race, and ethnicity. YLL was calculated using the CDC WONDER database to pull death records based on ICD-10 codes and the Social Security Administration Period Life Table was used to get estimated life expectancy for each subpopulation.ResultsIn 2020, COVID-19 caused 350,831 deaths and 4,405,699 YLL. By contrast, deaths of despair contributed to 178,598 deaths and 6,045,819 YLL. Men had more deaths and YLL than women due to COVID-19 and deaths of despair. Among White Americans and more than one race identification both had greater burden of deaths of despair YLL than COVID-19 YLL. However, for all other racial categories (Native American/Alaskan Native, Asian, Black/African American, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander) COVID-19 caused more YLL than deaths of despair. Also, Hispanic or Latino persons had disproportionately higher mortality across all causes: COVID-19 and all deaths of despair causes.ConclusionsThis study found greater deaths of despair mortality burden and differences in burden across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2020. The results indicate the need to bolster behavioral health research, support mental health workforce development and education, increase access to evidence-based substance use treatment, and address systemic inequities and social determinants of deaths of despair and COVID-19.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2023

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