COVID-19 MORTALITY IN THE STATE OF SÃO PAULO DURING THE PANDEMIC

Abstract

This is an exploratory study that used mortality data, divided by cause (Covid-19 and other causes), of residents of the State of São Paulo during the period of the pandemic. The epidemic was described by sex ratio, proportional mortality, average years of life lost, and standardized mortality ratio. There were missing data on education (14.14%), marital status (7.16%), date of birth (0.96%), as well as 1,285 records with inconsistencies in the age field. Age-related mortality gradients by education for each sex were considered similar, differing in magnitude (sex ratio: 1.29). Mortality gradients by marital status for each sex showed significant differences among single, married, and widowed individuals. Daily series of deaths from Covid-19 and other causes were produced, allowing the visualization of epidemic waves. The standardized mortality ratio (direct method), stratified by age group and sex, with the respective 95% confidence interval, identified health regions with more deaths than expected for the mortality pattern from Covid-19 in the State of São Paulo. A cartogram of the Covid-19 burden was produced, combining proportional mortality coefficients and average years of life lost per death by municipality, in addition to the standardized mortality ratio by health region. The study results showed epidemiological patterns of mortality and the Covid-19 burden, as well as the most vulnerable health regions, in addition to contributing to the history of the pandemic and epidemic waves.