AUTHOR=Villani Leonardo , McKee Martin , Cascini Fidelia , Ricciardi Walter , Boccia Stefania 

TITLE=Comparison of Deaths Rates for COVID-19 across Europe During the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.620416

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2020.620416

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Europe overall suffered greatly in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic but the impact of different countries varied. Italy was in the forefront, but there too there were differences, with the Lombardy region the epicentre of the pandemic.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We report Crude Mortality Rates (CMRs) from deaths reported as due to COVID-19 and, in five countries where age-specific data are available, Standardized Mortality Rates (SMRs) in the European Union and United Kingdom.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> As of 30th August 2020, Belgium was the country with the highest cumulative CMR (86.3/100,000), but the Lombardy region reached almost double this figure (167.6/100,000), far ahead of the corresponding figure for the rest of Italy at 37.0/100,000. SMRs could be calculated for five countries (Italy, Portugal, Sweden, Germany, and Netherlands). Among them, Sweden had the highest SMR (61.6/100,000). The corresponding figures for Italy, Netherlands, Portugal and Germany were 50.2, 41.4, 15.9, and 10.1 per 100,000, respectively.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> It is clear that countries within Europe have performed very differently in their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, but the many limitations in the available data must be addressed before a definitive assessment of the reasons for these differences can be made.</p>