RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Predicted COVID-19 fatality rates based on age, sex, comorbidities and health system capacity
JF BMJ Global Health
JO BMJ Global Health
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e003094
DO 10.1136/bmjgh-2020-003094
VO 5
IS 9
A1 Selene Ghisolfi
A1 Ingvild Almås
A1 Justin C Sandefur
A1 Tillman von Carnap
A1 Jesse Heitner
A1 Tessa Bold
YR 2020
UL http://gh.bmj.com/content/5/9/e003094.abstract
AB Early reports suggest the fatality rate from COVID-19 varies greatly across countries, but non-random testing and incomplete vital registration systems render it impossible to directly estimate the infection fatality rate (IFR) in many low- and middle-income countries. To fill this gap, we estimate the adjustments required to extrapolate estimates of the IFR from high-income to lower-income regions. Accounting for differences in the distribution of age, sex and relevant comorbidities yields substantial differences in the predicted IFR across 21 world regions, ranging from 0.11% in Western Sub-Saharan Africa to 1.07% for high-income Asia Pacific. However, these predictions must be treated as lower bounds in low- and middle-income countries as they are grounded in fatality rates from countries with advanced health systems. To adjust for health system capacity, we incorporate regional differences in the relative odds of infection fatality from childhood respiratory syncytial virus. This adjustment greatly diminishes but does not entirely erase the demography-based advantage predicted in the lowest income settings, with regional estimates of the predicted COVID-19 IFR ranging from 0.37% in Western Sub-Saharan Africa to 1.45% for Eastern Europe.