An open-sourced, web-based application to analyze weekly excess mortality based on the Short-term Mortality Fluctuations data series

AbstractThe COVID-19 pandemic has revealed substantial coverage and quality gaps in existing international and national statistical monitoring systems. It is striking that obtaining timely, accurate, and comparable across countries data in order to adequately respond to unexpected epidemiological threats is very challenging. The most robust and reliable approach to quantify the mortality burden due to short-term risk factors is based on estimating weekly excess deaths. This approach is more reliable than monitoring deaths with COVID-19 diagnosis or calculating incidence or fatality rates affected by numerous problems such as testing coverage and comparability of diagnostic approaches. In response to the emerging data challenges, a new data resource on weekly mortality has been established. The Short-term Mortality Fluctuations (STMF, available at www.mortality.org) data series is the first international database providing open-access harmonized, uniform, and fully documented data on weekly all-cause mortality. The STMF online vizualisation tool provides an opportunity to perform a quick assessment of the excess weekly mortality in one or several countries by means of an interactive graphical interface.

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Health Impact Assessment of PM2.5 attributable mortality from the September 2020 Washington State Wildfire Smoke Episode

10.1101/2020.09.19.20197921 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yisi Liu ◽

Elena Austin ◽

Jianbang Xiang ◽

Tim Gould ◽

Tim Larson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pacific Northwest ◽

Excess Mortality ◽

Health Impact Assessment ◽

Health Impact ◽

Attributable Mortality ◽

Short Term ◽

Wildfire Smoke ◽

The Pacific ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

Short Term Mortality

AbstractMajor wildfires that started in the summer of 2020 along the west coast of the U.S. have made PM2.5 concentrations in cities in this region rank among the highest in the world. Regions of Washington were impacted by active wildfires in the state, and by aged wood smoke transported from fires in Oregon and California. This study aims to assess the population health impact of increased PM2.5 concentrations attributable to the wildfire. Average daily PM2.5 concentrations for each county before and during the 2020 Washington wildfire episode were obtained from the Washington Department of Ecology. Utilizing previously established associations of short-term mortality for PM2.5, we estimated excess mortality for Washington attributable to the increased PM2.5 levels. On average, PM2.5 concentrations increased 91.7 μg/m3 during the wildfire episode. Each week of wildfire smoke exposures was estimated to result in 87.6 (95% CI: 70.9, 103.1) cases of increased all-cause mortality, 19.1 (95% CI: 10.0, 28.2) increased cardiovascular disease deaths, and 9.4 (95% CI: 5.1, 13.5) increased respiratory disease deaths. Because wildfire smoke episodes are likely to continue impacting the Pacific Northwest in future years, continued preparedness and mitigations to reduce exposures to wildfire smoke are necessary to avoid this excess health burden.

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Demographic Correlates of Short-Term Mortality Among Youth and Young Adults With Youth-Onset Diabetes Diagnosed From 2002 to 2015: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

10.2337/figshare.16606313.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jean M Lawrence ◽

Kristi Reynolds ◽

Sharon H Saydah ◽

Amy Mottl ◽

Catherine Pihoker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Excess Mortality ◽

Diabetes Type ◽

Short Term ◽

Short Term Mortality ◽

Youth And Young Adults ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Youth Study ◽

Diabetes In Youth

OBJECTIVE: To examine short-term mortality and cause of death among youth and young adults (YYA) with youth-onset diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We included 19,717 YYA’s newly-diagnosed with diabetes before age 20 from 1/1/2002–12/31/2015 enrolled in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Of these, 14,721 had type 1; 4,141 type 2; 551 secondary and 304 other/unknown diabetes type. Cases were linked with the National Death Index through 12/31/2017. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% CIs based on age, sex, and race/ethnicity for state and county population areas and examined underlying causes of death. RESULTS: During 170,148 person-years (PY) (median follow-up=8.5 years), 283 individuals died: 133 with type 1 (103.0/100,000 PY), 55 with type 2 (161.5/100,000 PY), 87 with secondary (1,952/100,000 PY) and 8 with other/unknown diabetes type (312.3/100,000 PY). SMRs (95% CI) for the first three groups were 1.5 (1.2-1.8), 2.3 (1.7-3.0) and 28.0 (22.4-34.6), respectively. Diabetes was the underlying cause of death for 42.1%, 9.1% and 4.6% of deaths, respectively. The SMR was greater for type 2 than for type 1 diabetes (p<0.001). SMRs were significantly higher for ages <20 years, non-Hispanic White and Hispanic individuals and females with type 1 diabetes and for ages <25 years, all race/ethnic minority groups and both sexes with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSION: Excess mortality was observed among YYA for each type of diabetes with differences in risk associated with diabetes type, age, race/ethnicity, and sex. The root causes of excess mortality among YYAs with diabetes merits further study.

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Demographic Correlates of Short-Term Mortality Among Youth and Young Adults With Youth-Onset Diabetes Diagnosed From 2002 to 2015: The SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study

10.2337/figshare.16606313 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Jean M Lawrence ◽

Kristi Reynolds ◽

Sharon H Saydah ◽

Amy Mottl ◽

Catherine Pihoker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Excess Mortality ◽

Diabetes Type ◽

Short Term ◽

Short Term Mortality ◽

Youth And Young Adults ◽

Race Ethnicity ◽

Youth Study ◽

Diabetes In Youth

OBJECTIVE: To examine short-term mortality and cause of death among youth and young adults (YYA) with youth-onset diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We included 19,717 YYA’s newly-diagnosed with diabetes before age 20 from 1/1/2002–12/31/2015 enrolled in the SEARCH for Diabetes in Youth Study. Of these, 14,721 had type 1; 4,141 type 2; 551 secondary and 304 other/unknown diabetes type. Cases were linked with the National Death Index through 12/31/2017. We calculated standardized mortality ratios (SMR) and 95% CIs based on age, sex, and race/ethnicity for state and county population areas and examined underlying causes of death. RESULTS: During 170,148 person-years (PY) (median follow-up=8.5 years), 283 individuals died: 133 with type 1 (103.0/100,000 PY), 55 with type 2 (161.5/100,000 PY), 87 with secondary (1,952/100,000 PY) and 8 with other/unknown diabetes type (312.3/100,000 PY). SMRs (95% CI) for the first three groups were 1.5 (1.2-1.8), 2.3 (1.7-3.0) and 28.0 (22.4-34.6), respectively. Diabetes was the underlying cause of death for 42.1%, 9.1% and 4.6% of deaths, respectively. The SMR was greater for type 2 than for type 1 diabetes (p<0.001). SMRs were significantly higher for ages <20 years, non-Hispanic White and Hispanic individuals and females with type 1 diabetes and for ages <25 years, all race/ethnic minority groups and both sexes with type 2 diabetes. CONCLUSION: Excess mortality was observed among YYA for each type of diabetes with differences in risk associated with diabetes type, age, race/ethnicity, and sex. The root causes of excess mortality among YYAs with diabetes merits further study.

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