TY - JOUR
T1 - Excess mortality among essential workers in England and Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic
AU - Matz, Melissa
AU - Allemani, Claudia
AU - van Tongeren, Martie
AU - Nafilyan, Vahé
AU - Rhodes, Sarah
AU - van Veldhoven, Karin
AU - Pembrey, Lucy
AU - Coleman, Michel P
AU - Pearce, Neil
AU - Kreissl, Helen
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding This work was supported by funding through the National Core Study ’PROTECT’ programme, managed by the Health and Safety Executive on behalf of HM Government, and a grant from the Colt Foundation (CF/05/20).
Publisher Copyright:
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.
PY - 2022/6/9
Y1 - 2022/6/9
N2 - Background Exposure to SARS-CoV-2, subsequent development of COVID-19 and death from COVID-19 may vary by occupation, and the risks may be higher for those categorised as 'essential workers'. Methods We estimated excess mortality by occupational group and sex separately for each month in 2020 and for the entire 12 months overall. Results Mortality for all adults of working age was similar to the annual average over the previous 5 years. Monthly excess mortality peaked in April, when the number of deaths was 54.2% higher than expected and was lowest in December when deaths were 30.0% lower than expected. Essential workers had consistently higher excess mortality than other groups throughout 2020. There were also large differences in excess mortality between the categories of essential workers, with healthcare workers having the highest excess mortality and social care and education workers having the lowest. Excess mortality also varied widely between men and women, even within the same occupational group. Generally, excess mortality was higher in men.
AB - Background Exposure to SARS-CoV-2, subsequent development of COVID-19 and death from COVID-19 may vary by occupation, and the risks may be higher for those categorised as 'essential workers'. Methods We estimated excess mortality by occupational group and sex separately for each month in 2020 and for the entire 12 months overall. Results Mortality for all adults of working age was similar to the annual average over the previous 5 years. Monthly excess mortality peaked in April, when the number of deaths was 54.2% higher than expected and was lowest in December when deaths were 30.0% lower than expected. Essential workers had consistently higher excess mortality than other groups throughout 2020. There were also large differences in excess mortality between the categories of essential workers, with healthcare workers having the highest excess mortality and social care and education workers having the lowest. Excess mortality also varied widely between men and women, even within the same occupational group. Generally, excess mortality was higher in men.
KW - COVID-19
KW - MORTALITY
KW - OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
U2 - 10.1136/jech-2022-218786
DO - 10.1136/jech-2022-218786
M3 - Article
C2 - 35470261
SN - 1470-2738
VL - 76
SP - 660
EP - 666
JO - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
JF - Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
IS - 7
ER -