Flaws and Uncertainties in Pandemic Global Excess Death Calculations

36 Pages Posted: 14 Feb 2023 Last revised: 13 Apr 2023

See all articles by John P. A. Ioannidis

John P. A. Ioannidis

Stanford University - Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS)

Francesco Zonta

ShanghaiTech University - Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies

Michael Levitt

Stanford University - Department of Structural Biology

Date Written: January 30, 2023

Abstract

Several teams have been publishing global estimates of excess deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we examine potential flaws and underappreciated sources of uncertainty in global excess death calculations. Adjusting for changing population age structure is essential. Otherwise, excess deaths are markedly overestimated in countries that have increasingly aging populations. Adjusting for changes in other high-risk indicators, such as residence in long-term facilities, may also make a difference. Death registration is highly incomplete in most countries; completeness corrections should allow for substantial uncertainty and consider that completeness may have changed during pandemic years. Excess death estimates have high sensitivity to modeling choice. Therefore different options should be considered and the full range of results should be shown for different choices of pre-pandemic reference periods and imposed models. Any post-modeling corrections in specific countries should be guided by pre-specified rules. Modeling of all-cause mortality (ACM) in countries that have ACM data and extrapolating these models to other countries is precarious; models may lack transportability. Existing global excess death estimates underestimate the overall uncertainty that is multiplicative across diverse sources of uncertainty. Informative excess death estimates require risk stratification, including age groups and ethnic/racial strata. Data to-date suggest a death deficit among children during the pandemic and marked socioeconomic differences in deaths, widening inequalities. Finally, causal explanations require great caution. It is difficult to disentangle deaths attributed directly to SARS-CoV-2, indirect pandemic effects, and effects from measures taken. Globally, deaths directly due to SARS-CoV-2 may be the minority of calculated excess deaths.

Note:
Funding Information: NIH R35 GM122543 (Levitt).

Declaration of Interests: None.

Keywords: COVID-19, mortality, excess deaths, bias, demography

JEL Classification: C00

Suggested Citation

Ioannidis, John P. A. and Zonta, Francesco and Levitt, Michael, Flaws and Uncertainties in Pandemic Global Excess Death Calculations (January 30, 2023). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4342889 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4342889

John P. A. Ioannidis (Contact Author)

Stanford University - Meta-Research Innovation Center at Stanford (METRICS)

Stanford, CA
United States

Francesco Zonta

ShanghaiTech University - Shanghai Institute for Advanced Immunochemical Studies

Michael Levitt

Stanford University - Department of Structural Biology

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
986
Abstract Views
4,320
Rank
42,903
PlumX Metrics