Many European countries, including Scotland, have faced a prolonged slump in life expectancy levels following the arrival of the COVID pandemic in 2020, according to a stark new analysis published last night.
Oxford University researchers found no improvement in life expectancy in Scotland or Northern Ireland nor in countries such as Germany and most of eastern Europe.
England and Wales experienced a partial “bounceback” but only countries such as Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium and France experienced a full return to pre-pandemic life expectancy.
They said their findings suggest COVID has been nothing like a flu pandemic – giving long-lasting effects on human health.
The researchers studied 29 European countries, the USA and Chile for the study published in Nature Human Behaviour. They found that the USA and eastern European countries experienced worsening losses in life expectancy during the last two years.
They were able to link levels of vaccination to improvements in life expectancy – and found that over 80s who were vaccine protected experienced a reduction in excess mortality last year.
Researcher Dr Ridhi Kashyap said: “A notable shift between 2020 and 2021 was that the age patterns of excess mortality shifted in 2021 towards younger age groups, as vaccines began to protect the old.”
The researchers wrote: “It is plausible that countries with ineffective public health responses will see a protracted health crisis induced by the pandemic with medium-term stalls in life expectancy improvements, while other regions manage a smoother recovery to return to pre-pandemic trends.”
Nature Human Behaviour 17 October 2022
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