YOUNG PEOPLE MADE UP GREATER PROPORTION OF 2021 COVID DEATHS

The proportion of young people who died from COVID-19 in 2021 surpassed that of 2020, marking a shift in the pandemic’s mortality dynamics.

 

That’s according to new research from investigators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Results also showed the median age of COVID-19 death decreased from 78 years in 2020 to 69 years in 2021.

 

“A shift in COVID-19 mortality to relatively younger people in the second pandemic year contributed to markedly increased premature mortality from this increasingly preventable death,” said study co-author Mark Czeisler, a medical student at Harvard Medical School, in a release.

 

“Understanding the factors that contribute to this age shift is critical as we continue developing our knowledge of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

 

Older adults tended to have higher vaccination rates than their younger counterparts, and these vulnerable individuals tended to adhere more strictly to nonpharmaceutical interventions in 2021, researchers wrote.