<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><xml><records><record><source-app name="Biblio" version="7.x">Drupal-Biblio</source-app><ref-type>17</ref-type><contributors><authors><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Simon Galmiche</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Camille Coustaury</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Kelly Charniga</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Rebecca Grant</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Simon Cauchemez</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Arnaud Fontanet</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Brigitte Autran</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Matthew Barnbrook</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Henrique Barros</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Paolo Bosetti</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lisa Brouwers</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Natalia Bustos Sierra</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Lasse Engbo Christiansen</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jean-François Delfraissy</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Christiane Diehl</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Petter Elstrom</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Magnus Gisslen</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Johanna Hanefeld</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Niel Hens</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Mary Horgan</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Laetitia Huiart</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Yann Le Strat</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Adrian Lison</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Patrick Mallon</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Sarah K. Nørgaard</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Miquel Oliu</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Juliette Paireau</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Emma Rourke</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Julien Riou</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Fernando Simon Soria</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Tanja Stadler</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Anders Tegnell</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Alexander Ullrich</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Pierre Van Damme</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Susan van den Hof</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jaap van Dissel</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Steven Van Gucht</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Jacco Wallinga</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Simon Whitfield</style></author><author><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Yazdanpanah, Yazdan</style></author></authors></contributors><titles><title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Patterns and drivers of excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in 13 Western European countries</style></title><secondary-title><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">BMC global and Public Health</style></secondary-title></titles><keywords><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">COVID-19</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">COVID-19 / prevention &amp; control</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">COVID-19 Vaccines</style></keyword><keyword><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">Western Europe</style></keyword></keywords><dates><year><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">2024</style></year><pub-dates><date><style  face="normal" font="default" size="100%">9 December 2024</style></date></pub-dates></dates><language><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">eng</style></language><abstract><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Background&lt;/strong&gt; Important differences in excess mortality between European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic have been reported. Understanding the drivers of these differences is essential to pandemic preparedness.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Methods&lt;/strong&gt;&amp;nbsp;We examined patterns in age- and sex-standardized cumulative excess mortality in 13 Western European countries during the first 30 months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the correlation of country-level characteristics of interest with excess mortality.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Results&lt;/strong&gt; In a timeline analysis, we identified notable differences in seeding events, particularly in early 2020 and when the Alpha variant emerged, likely contributing to notable differences in excess mortality between countries (lowest in Denmark during that period). These differences were more limited from July 2021 onwards. Lower excess mortality was associated with implementing stringent non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) when hospital admissions were still low in 2020 (correlation coefficient rho = 0.65, p = 0.03) and rapid rollout of vaccines in the elderly in early 2021 (rho = − 0.76, p = 0.002). Countries which&amp;nbsp; implemented NPIs while hospital admissions were low tended to experience lower gross domestic product (GDP) losses in 2020 (rho = − 0.55, p = 0.08). Structural factors, such as high trust in the national government (rho = − 0.77, p = 0.002) and low ratio of population at risk of poverty(rho = 0.55, p = 0.05), were also associated with lower excess mortality.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Conclusions&lt;/strong&gt; These results suggest the benefit of early implementation of NPIs and swift rollout of vaccines to the most vulnerable. Further analyses are required at a more granular level to better understand how these factors impacted excess mortality and help guide pandemic preparedness plans.&lt;/p&gt;
</style></abstract><issue><style face="normal" font="default" size="100%">(2024) 2:78</style></issue></record></records></xml>