The estimated disease burden of acute COVID-19 in the Netherlands in 2020, in disability-adjusted life-years

Abstract

The impact of COVID-19 on population health is recognised as being substantial, yet few studies have attempted to quantify to what extent infection causes mild or moderate symptoms only, requires hospital and/or ICU admission, results in prolonged and chronic illness, or leads to premature death. We aimed to quantify the total disease burden of acute COVID-19 in the Netherlands in 2020 using the disability-adjusted life-years (DALY) measure, and to investigate how burden varies between age-groups and occupations. Using standard methods and diverse data sources (mandatory notifications, population-level seroprevalence, hospital and ICU admissions, registered COVID-19 deaths, and the literature), we estimated years of life lost (YLL), years lived with disability, DALY and DALY per 100,000 population due to COVID-19, excluding post-acute sequelae, stratified by 5-year age-group and occupation category. The total disease burden due to acute COVID-19 was 286,100 (95% CI: 281,700–290,500) DALY, and the per-capita burden was 1640 (95% CI: 1620–1670) DALY/100,000, of which 99.4% consisted of YLL. The per-capita burden increased steeply with age, starting from 60 to 64 years, with relatively little burden estimated for persons under 50 years old. SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated premature mortality was responsible for a considerable direct health burden in the Netherlands, despite extensive public health measures. DALY were much higher than for other high-burden infectious diseases, but lower than estimated for coronary heart disease. These findings are valuable for informing public health decision-makers regarding the expected COVID-19 health burden among population subgroups, and the possible gains from targeted preventative interventions.

Carga de enfermedad por COVID-19 en el departamento de Nariño, Colombia, 2020-2021

“…municipios, entre otros), fue aportada por los APMP, lo cual se explica porque en los dos primeros años de la pandemia, y previo a la introducción de las vacunas (26) , las personas con mayor riesgo de muerte (hombres y mayores de 70 años), eran los más afectados por este evento (27)(28) . Lo anterior coincide con otras investigaciones, por ejemplo, una de los países bajos resaltó que la tasa de AVISA fue de 19,7 por mil habitantes para los grupos de edad de 85 y más años (29) . Otro estudio realizado en Irlanda sugiere que los AVISA se concentran significativamente en las poblaciones de 65 y más años (30) .…”

Burden of COVID‐19 disease in Kurdistan province in west of Iran using disability‐adjusted life years

“…For example, in a study by Min‐Woo Jo et al in South Korea, the YLL's share of total COVID‐19‐induced DALYs was 89.7%, 46 and it were more than 98% in another studies in 16 European countries, 13 in India, 22 in Colombia, 18 in Germany, 21 and in Netherland. 19 …”

“…So the results cannot be directly compared with each other. 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 In addition, studies conducted in the United States 28 and Japan 29 have investigated the effect of the outbreak of the COVID‐19 pandemic on changes in out‐of‐hospital cardiac arrest and other vaccine‐preventable diseases DALYs, respectively.…”

Has COVID-19 increased inequality in mortality by income in the Netherlands?

“…The registration of COVID-19 deaths throughout the year may have depended on the testing policy: while severe/hospitalised cases and individuals in certain professions were tested from the start of the pandemic, testing only became available for the full population after 1 June. 29 30 Similarly, estimates of excess mortality depend crucially on the predictions based on historic trends in deaths. Methodological differences in estimating these trends have been shown to impact the estimates of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.…”