Younger people made up a greater proportion of COVID deaths last year compared to 2020, according to a new study from Boston researchers who found an increase in “years of life lost” due to the virus.
Since March 2020, COVID-related deaths have claimed more than 1 million lives in the U.S. alone.
Most deaths were among older adults during the pandemic’s early phases — but in 2021 as more older adults got vaccinated, deaths in younger persons increased while deaths in older persons decreased, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers found in the study.
“There were a lot of changes between the first and second years of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mark Czeisler, medical student at Harvard Medical School and member of the Brigham’s Department of Psychiatry.
“Researchers have sought to understand the impacts of advances in COVID-19 treatments, immunity due to vaccinations and infections, and scientific knowledge of the COVID-19 virus and emerging variants,” Czeisler added. “But prior to our study, there was less attention on quantifying premature mortality associated with COVID-19 in 2021 versus 2020.”
Earlier in the pandemic, age and pre-existing conditions played a major role in developing public health advice. But by early 2021, the COVID landscape had shifted completely: Vaccines became available, treatments advanced, and people’s behaviors changed.
While 2020 COVID death rates were high among older adults, those older adults got vaccinated at a higher rate and more strictly followed nonpharmaceutical interventions throughout 2021, such as masking and social distancing.
Between March 2020 and October 2021, COVID maintained a spot as one of the top five causes of death for U.S. adults. Its specific rank within that top five, however, changed based on age — revealing a greater proportion of young people prematurely dying from COVID in 2021.
Despite 20.8% fewer overall COVID deaths in 2021 versus 2020, the “years of life lost” due to COVID increased by 7.4%, according to the Brigham researchers.
As the age distribution of deaths shifted downward, the median age of COVID deaths decreased from 78 years in 2020 to 69 years in 2021.
“A shift in COVID-19 mortality to relatively younger people in the second pandemic year contributed to markedly increased premature mortality from this increasingly preventable death,” Czeisler said. “Understanding the factors that contribute to this age shift is critical as we continue developing our knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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