Regensburg Department of Public Health, Altmühlstr. 3, 93059, Regensburg, Germany; Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Regensburg, University Hospital Regensburg, Franz-Josef-Strauß-Allee 11, 93053, Regensburg, Germany.
Regensburg Department of Public Health, Altmühlstr. 3, 93059, Regensburg, Germany.
Public Health. 2022 Apr;205:157-163. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2022.02.008. Epub 2022 Mar 11.
In Germany, deaths of SARS-CoV-2-positive persons are reported as 'death related to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19' to the Robert Koch Institute, Germany's main infectious disease institution. In 177 COVID-19-associated deaths reported in Regensburg, Germany, from October 2020 to January 2021, we investigated how deaths following SARS-CoV-2 infection were reported and whether cases with a death attributed to SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19 death [CD]) differed from cases with a reported death from other causes (non-COVID-19 death [NCD]).
This was an observational retrospective cohort study.
We analysed descriptive data on the numbers of cases, deaths, age, sex, symptoms and hospitalizations. We calculated odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) and performed Chi-squared/Fisher's exact test for categorical variables and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test for comparison of medians.
Deaths attributed to COVID-19 occurred primarily in elderly patients. The mortality rate and the case fatality ratio (CFR) increased with age. The median age and the prevalence of risk factors were similar between CD and NCD. Respiratory symptoms and pneumonia at the time of diagnosis were associated with death reported as CD. The odds of CD attribution in cases hospitalized because of COVID-19 were 6-fold higher than the odds of NCD (OR: 6.00; 95% CI: 1.32 to 27.22).
Respiratory symptoms/pneumonia at the time of diagnosis and hospitalization due to COVID-19 were associated with attributing a death to COVID-19. Numbers of COVID deaths need to be interpreted with caution. Criteria that facilitate attributing the cause of death among SARS-CoV-2 cases more uniformly could make these figures more comparable.
在德国，罗伯特·科赫研究所（德国主要传染病机构）将 SARS-CoV-2 阳性者的死亡报告为“与 SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 相关的死亡”。在德国雷根斯堡 2020 年 10 月至 2021 年 1 月期间报告的 177 例与 COVID-19 相关的死亡中，我们调查了 SARS-CoV-2 感染后的死亡报告方式，以及归因于 SARS-CoV-2 的病例（COVID-19 死亡[CD]）与报告其他原因死亡的病例（非 COVID-19 死亡[NCD]）是否存在差异。
这是一项观察性回顾性队列研究。
我们分析了病例数量、死亡人数、年龄、性别、症状和住院情况的描述性数据。我们计算了比值比（OR）及其 95%置信区间（95%CI），并使用卡方/Fisher 精确检验进行分类变量分析，使用 Wilcoxon 秩和检验进行中位数比较。
COVID-19 死亡主要发生在老年患者中。死亡率和病死率（CFR）随年龄增长而增加。CD 和 NCD 之间的中位年龄和危险因素的患病率相似。诊断时的呼吸道症状和肺炎与报告为 CD 的死亡相关。因 COVID-19 住院的病例归因于 CD 的几率是非 COVID-19 死亡的 6 倍（OR：6.00；95%CI：1.32 至 27.22）。
诊断时的呼吸道症状/肺炎和因 COVID-19 住院与归因于 COVID-19 死亡相关。COVID 死亡人数需要谨慎解读。有助于更均匀地归因于 SARS-CoV-2 病例死因的标准可以使这些数据更具可比性。
