RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Child mortality in England during the COVID-19 pandemic
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 14
OP 20
DO 10.1136/archdischild-2020-320899
VO 107
IS 1
A1 David Odd
A1 Sylvia Stoianova
A1 Tom Williams
A1 Vicky Sleap
A1 Peter Blair
A1 Peter Fleming
A1 Ingrid Wolfe
A1 Karen Luyt
YR 2022
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/107/1/14.abstract
AB Objectives Using the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD), this work aims to investigate and quantify the characteristics of children dying of COVID-19, and to identify any changes in rate of childhood mortality during the pandemic.Design We compared the characteristics of the children who died in 2020, split by SARS-CoV-2 status. A negative binomial regression model was used to compare mortality rates in lockdown (23 March–28 June), with those children who died in the preceding period (6 January–22 March), as well as a comparable period in 2019.Setting England.Participants Children (0–17 years).Main outcome measures Characteristics and number of the children who died in 2020, split by SARS-CoV-2 status.Results 1550 deaths of children between 6th of January and 28 June 2020 were notified to the NCMD; 437 of the deaths were linked to SARS-CoV-2 virology records, 25 (5.7%) had a positive PCR result. PCR-positive children were less likely to be white (37.5% vs 69.4%, p=0.003) and were older (12.2 vs 0.7 years, p<0.0006) compared with child deaths without evidence of the virus. All-cause mortality rates were similar during lockdown compared with both the period before lockdown in 2020 (rate ratio (RR) 0.93 (0.84 to 1.02)) and a similar period in 2019 (RR 1.02 (0.92 to 1.13)).Conclusions There is little to suggest that there has been excess mortality during the period of lockdown. The apparent higher frequency of SARS-CoV-2-positive tests among children from black, Asian and minority ethnic groups is consistent with findings in adults. Ongoing surveillance is essential as the pandemic continues.Data may be obtained from a third party and are not publicly available. Aggregate data may be available on request to the corresponding author, and subject to approval by HQIP.