[Skip to Content]

Claim CME

Infectious Diseases

Association Between Life Expectancy at Age 60 Years Before the COVID-19 Pandemic and Excess Mortality During the Pandemic in Aging Countries

Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

1 Credit CME

JAMA Network Open

Published Online: October 19, 2022

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Mitsuyoshi Urashima, MD, PhD, MPH¹;

Emiri Tanaka¹;

Hiroto Ishihara¹;

Taisuke Akutsu, MD, PhD¹

Author Affiliations

¹Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan

Read article on JAMA Network

Read Article Claim CME

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with approximately 15 million excess deaths.¹ Excess mortality (EM) from all causes per 100 000 population members in each country varied from negative values to more than 300 deaths. Older age is one of the factors associated with the greatest increase in risk of COVID-19 deaths,² suggesting that EM is likely to be high in aging countries. However, although Japan has the highest aging ratio in the world, it was able to keep EM low during the pandemic. To investigate this contradiction, we explored associations of health, well-being, population, and economic factors before the pandemic with EM during the pandemic.

Claim CME

Sign in to take quiz and track your certificates

Buy This Activity

Article Information

Accepted for Publication: September 2, 2022.

Published: October 19, 2022. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.37528

Open Access: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC-BY License. © 2022 Urashima M et al. JAMA Network Open.

Corresponding Author: Mitsuyoshi Urashima, MD, MPH, PhD, Division of Molecular Epidemiology, Jikei University School of Medicine, Nishi-shimbashi 3-25-8, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan (urashima@jikei.ac.jp).

Author Contributions: Dr Urashima had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Urashima.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Urashima.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Tanaka, Ishihara, Akutsu.

Statistical analysis: Urashima.

Obtained funding: Urashima.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Akutsu.

Supervision: Tanaka, Ishihara.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.

References

World Health Organization. 14.9 million excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021. Accessed June 13, 2022. https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2022-14.9-million-excess-deaths-were-associated-with-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-2020-and-2021

Williamson EJ , Walker AJ , Bhaskaran K , et al. Factors associated with COVID-19-related death using OpenSAFELY. Nature. 2020;584(7821):430-436. doi:10.1038/s41586-020-2521-4 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

COVID-19 Excess Mortality Collaborators. Estimating excess mortality due to the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic analysis of COVID-19-related mortality, 2020-21. Lancet. 2022;399(10334):1513-1536. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(21)02796-3 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Shkolnikov VM , Andreev EM , Tursun-Zade R , Leon DA . Patterns in the relationship between life expectancy and gross domestic product in Russia in 2005-15: a cross-sectional analysis. Lancet Public Health. 2019;4(4):e181-e188. doi:10.1016/S2468-2667(19)30036-2 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Murray CJ , Lopez AD , Chin B , Feehan D , Hill KH . Estimation of potential global pandemic influenza mortality on the basis of vital registry data from the 1918-20 pandemic: a quantitative analysis. Lancet. 2006;368(9554):2211-2218. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)69895-4 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

AMA CME Accreditation Information

Credit Designation Statement: The American Medical Association designates this Journal-based CME activity activity for a maximum of 1.00  AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Successful completion of this CME activity, which includes participation in the evaluation component, enables the participant to earn up to:

1.00 Medical Knowledge MOC points in the American Board of Internal Medicine's (ABIM) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;;
1.00 Self-Assessment points in the American Board of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery’s (ABOHNS) Continuing Certification program;
1.00 MOC points in the American Board of Pediatrics’ (ABP) Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program;
1.00 Lifelong Learning points in the American Board of Pathology’s (ABPath) Continuing Certification program; and
1.00 CME points in the American Board of Surgery’s (ABS) Continuing Certification program

It is the CME activity provider's responsibility to submit participant completion information to ACCME for the purpose of granting MOC credit.