Istat: "49 thousand more deaths between March and April 2020, 60% due to Covid"

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21 April 2021 Covid-19 is the second leading cause of death in the period March-April 2020, with a number of deaths slightly lower than that of cancers.

In the months of March-April 2020, there were 49 thousand excess deaths compared to the average of the same months in the previous five years.

60% is attributable to Covid-19 (29,210), 10% to pneumonia and 30% to other causes.

Istat notes this in the first detailed report on the causes of death since the beginning of the pandemic.

'In these two months - explains the Institute of Statistics - the deaths resident in Italy have undergone an increase of 45%. This is 159,310 deaths, almost 49 thousand cases more than the average calculated in the same period of the five-year period 2015-2019 '. Only a small part of the increase is attributable to aging: without Covid, it is estimated that the increase in deaths would have been limited to +6,648 deaths. Deaths from pneumonia - still reports Istat - tripled (+ 211% for pneumonia and flu) and those from dementia, diabetes and hypertensive heart disease increase. About 85% of the total deaths from Covid-19 are people over 70 years old. Among the 50-59 year olds, one in five deaths is due to Covid-19.

In the Northwest, Covid-19 is responsible for a third of total mortality

In the Northwest, Covid-19 is responsible for a third of total mortality, almost 19,000 deaths, 64% of all Italy's Covid-19 deaths.

About 20% (6 thousand) of the deaths concern residents of the Northeast while the remaining 16% is distributed in the rest of the country, according to the report.

The increase in mortality was concentrated above all in the North-West regions, where the first epidemic outbreaks broke out;

in this area the deaths in excess were 34,449 deaths with a doubling of cases and a rather limited effect due to aging (+1,833 deaths).

Mortality due to cause and place of death in the first wave of the pandemic: in the months of March-April 2020, Covid-19 is the second cause of death after tumors #istat #IstatperilPaese https://t.co/ZYWNUKpmKu pic.twitter. com / SIDXJyD0kQ

- Istat (@istat_it) April 21, 2021

+ 155% deaths in residential structures

There is a strong increase in deaths in public and private care institutions compared to the 2015-19 average (+ 46%), almost entirely attributable to mortality from Covid-19, while those from other non-Covid-19 causes are reduced by 4% . Even in homes and residential or social welfare structures, the increase in deaths is significant, respectively + 27% and + 155%. Only for a small part is it explained directly by Covid-19: it could also be a consequence of a lack of access to hospital care in the most critical phase for the health system and of a failure to diagnose covid-19 cases at the beginning of the pandemic. Normally deaths in residential or social welfare structures represent about 9% of the total deaths while in 2020 the percentage rises to 17%.

The increase in deaths observed in hospices (+ 4%) can instead be entirely attributed to Covid-19. The analysis of the type of diagnosis of Covid-19 indicated by doctors in the death certificates (suspected or confirmed) in relation to the place of death provides further interesting food for thought. While the proportion of diagnoses confirmed by laboratory tests clearly prevails in healthcare institutions (21,308 cases out of 22,808 deaths), the number of deaths from “suspected” Covid-19 is significant in homes (573 cases out of 913 deaths at home).

In residential or social welfare structures, although 'confirmed' cases of deaths from Covid-19 prevail (65% of Covid-19 deaths in this type of structure), the number of deaths from "suspected" Covid-19 is high and amounts to 1,502 cases. The increase in deaths in care institutions is observed in all areas of the country, but it is in the North that the excess is particularly relevant. The same goes for residential or social welfare structures for which, however, even in areas where the increase in mortality has been less strong, deaths have increased by more than 50%. The variations in the number of deaths in homes in the different areas of the country respect the different spread of the virus: they increase in all areas, mostly in the North, except in the Islands where there is a slight decrease.

During lockdown increase of femicides

During the first epidemic wave, the reduced road traffic following the national lockdown resulted in a sharp reduction in deaths from transport accidents in all age groups. In particular, 214 fewer deaths are observed under the age of 65 (of which 178 among men) with a reduction of about 60% compared to the 2015-2019 average is highlighted in the report, according to which in the period there is also a decrease in suicides, more markedly up to 64 years of age, a class in which this cause of death is more frequent: -19% among men and -27% among women, with a total reduction of 89 cases. Murders and assaults are reduced in particular before the age of 65 (-36% of deaths), but with a difference by gender. If among men, there is a reduction of 58% (from 29 to 12),there was a slight increase among women (from 12 to 14 deaths). Finally, deaths from accidental falls in over 65s of both sexes increased: + 46% in men and + 34% in women (+220 cases overall).

There are therefore 4 women who died during the lockdown. The phenomenon of homicides - according to the law in the report - has a specific gender connotation: those who see women as victims are consumed mainly within the home, while men are more often victims of unknown perpetrators. The obligation to stay in homes in March and April 2020 seems to have produced a negative effect, albeit small in numbers, on the phenomenon affecting women, unlike what happened for almost all other external causes.