COVID-19 burden of disease
Background
The Scottish Burden of Disease study measures DALYs due to over 100 causes of disease and injury. DALYs are the sum of years lost to premature mortality (YLL) and years lost to ill-health (YLD), compared to aspirational health. We have carried out work to estimate the overall, and inequalities in the, direct impact of COVID-19 on population health measures through DALYs, YLL and YLL.
Key publication
- A research paper on the widening of inequalities in COVID-19 YLL from 2020 to 2021, published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health
Previous publications
- A research paper on inequalities in COVID-19 DALYs due to multiple deprivation in 2020, scaled against pre-pandemic causes, published in the International Journal for Equity in Health
- A blog published by Voluntary Health Scotland on the overall, and inequalities in, years of healthy life lost in Scotland’s communities in 2020
- A research paper on overall COVID-19 DALYs in 2020, scaled against pre-pandemic causes, published in the Archives of Public Health
Visual summary of previous publications
The infographic below is a visual summary of the findings of our previous publications. This can be downloaded in a higher resolution by clicking here.
Methodology
- A consensus methodology to estimate DALYs due to COVID-19 infection from the European Burden of Disease Network, published in the International Journal of Public Health.
- A commentary on measuring Years of Life Lost (YLL) due to COVID-19 mortality, published in the International Journal of Public Health.
- A letter which outlines the methodological and health equity principles of YLL, published in the European Journal of Epidemiology.
The infographic below includes some individual examples of how we have estimated the combined direct health impact of ill-health and mortality due to COVID-19.
Future work
We will periodically monitor population health loss from COVID-19 and a range of other causes in the Scottish Burden of Disease study. Measuring population health impact using DALYs allows us to assess the wider impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on changes in the occurrence and severity of ill-health and mortality. This will also be a key step to interpreting the extent of any sustained impact of the pandemic on mental and physical health.
