Flu Deaths Down, Heart Failure Up (UK 2022 Excess Deaths)
Flu Deaths Down, Heart Failure Up (UK 2022 Excess Deaths)
We take a look at excess mortality data from the UK Government’s website, www.gov.uk. It should be noted that excess deaths are estimated using five years of data from 2015 to 2019. Also of note, in the Interpretation section, the authors note that “mortality rates do vary considerably from year to year and we have no way of knowing what would have happened, had the pandemic not occurred”. So just keep that in mind. These statistics that I’ll be showing you are all just estimates.
First of all, let’s look at all excess deaths in the year 2022. We can see that at the start of the year, there were considerably less deaths that expected, but from about April onwards, there were considerably more than expected, and have been consistently higher throughout the year. I spoke about that in a previous video, so I won’t go into that again.
If we go back to the main menu and click on Cause of Death, specifically Heart failure, we can see that there have been significant increases in heart failure throughout most of the year. The jury is still out as to why, but nobody can argue that heart failure is significantly higher than historical averages.
Here’s a graph of excess deaths from other respiratory diseases, such as influenza, and as you can see, there have been significantly less deaths than expected. Presumably, instead of people dying from the flu, they’ve been officially dying from COVID instead. That’s why I’ve always been hesitant to state that all COVID deaths should be counted as excess deaths. No, they shouldn’t, because fewer people are dying from other respiratory illnesses. COVID deaths have just displaced some of those deaths.
This graph shows deaths from heart disease. Again, there have been significant increases throughout the year. People may not be dying very much from the flu, but they certainly are dying from heart disease in great numbers.
Another cause of death that has been severely over-represented in 2022 is deaths from cirrhosis and other liver diseases. According to the British NHS, the main causes of cirrhosis are excess alcohol consumption, hepatitis, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by a build-up of excess fat, usually seen in people who are overweight or obese. I presume these are all hangovers of the pandemic lockdowns where people were stuck at home all day, without work, and unable to socialise and exercise as normal. This certainly warrants further investigation I think.
Similarly, diabetes numbers are significantly higher than normal throughout almost the entire year. Again, according to the NHS, diabetes is often linked to people being overweight or inactive.
Perhaps surprisingly, deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s has been mostly lower than expected throughout the year, as has deaths from Parkinson’s disease, or at least, it’s stayed fairly average.
Some viewers have been asking about ethnicity in relation to excess deaths. White people have pretty much followed the overall trend. Asian people have seen consistent excess deaths throughout the entire year, even in the earlier months. Somewhat similarly, black people have shown mostly increases in deaths through most weeks of the year, as have people of self-described ‘mixed’ ethnicity. The only group that don’t follow a similar pattern are people who identify as “other”, meaning they don’t identify as white, black, Asian, or mixed. Throughout the year, they’ve had ups and downs that pretty much average out in terms of excess deaths.
Place of death is somewhat informative. Deaths in hospitals have pretty much followed the overarching trend. Deaths in care homes has kind of followed the same trend, except that there are significantly less excess deaths. Deaths in hospices have completely plummeted. I guess people are just not going to hospices as often anymore? But the standout in excess deaths is at home. Significantly more people have been dying at home throughout the entire year than historical averages.
Older people have pretty much been following the overarching excess death trend, but perhaps surprisingly, 50 to 64 year-olds have had consistent excess deaths almost every week of the year. 25-49 year-olds have sort of had a similar pattern with some significant excess deaths early on in the year as well. Whereas the youngest age category, 0 to 24 year-olds have had ups and downs, but mainly highly-than-expected deaths in recent months.
So what can we conclude from all of this data? Well, people are dying more often from heart failure, heart disease, cirrhosis of the liver, diabetes, they’re of mixed ethnicity, 50 to 64 years old, with significantly increased deaths at home. And nobody seems to know why.
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Content
0 -> This is the UK Government’s website, GOV.UK. In
the search field, we’ll be searching for “excess
5.94 -> mortality”. In this video, we’ll be looking
at Excess mortality in England and English
10.92 -> regions. These are the official figures from the
Office of Health Improvement and Disparities,
16.32 -> which were last updated on 1 December 2022.
Scrolling down to the Documents section,
22.62 -> we’ll be looking at the Excess
mortality in England Analysis.
26.76 -> This brings us to an interactive data
visualisation tool of excess deaths,
31.56 -> which are presented by age, sex, deprivation,
ethnicity, region, local authority, cause and
38.1 -> place of death. We’ll be looking at a few of
these in more details in this presentation.
42.9 -> It should be noted that excess deaths
are estimated using five years of data
47.64 -> from 2015 to 2019. Also of note,
in the Interpretation section,
52.62 -> the authors note that “mortality rates
do vary considerably from year to year
57.6 -> and we have no way of knowing what would have
happened, had the pandemic not occurred”. So
63.42 -> just keep that in mind. These statistics that
I’ll be showing you are all just estimates.
67.86 -> First of all, let’s look at all excess deaths in
the year 2022. We can see that at the start of
73.5 -> the year, there were considerably less deaths
that expected, but from about April onwards,
78.54 -> there were considerably more than expected, and
have been consistently higher throughout the
83.22 -> year. I spoke about that in a previous
video, so I won’t go into that again.
88.08 -> If we go back to the main menu and click on
Cause of Death, specifically Heart failure,
93 -> we can see that there have
been significant increases
96 -> in heart failure throughout most of the
year. The jury is still out as to why,
100.8 -> but nobody can argue that heart failure is
significantly higher than historical averages.
106.2 -> Here’s a graph of excess deaths from other
respiratory diseases, such as influenza,
111.42 -> and as you can see, there have been significantly
less deaths than expected. Presumably,
116.64 -> instead of people dying from the
flu, they’ve been officially dying
120.36 -> from COVID instead. That’s why I’ve always
been hesitant to state that all COVID deaths
125.28 -> should be counted as excess deaths. No, they
shouldn’t, because fewer people are dying from
130.08 -> other respiratory illnesses. COVID deaths
have just displaced some of those deaths.
135.6 -> This graph shows deaths from heart disease.
Again, there have been significant increases
140.28 -> throughout the year. People may not
be dying very much from the flu,
143.82 -> but they certainly are dying from
heart disease in great numbers.
148.02 -> Another cause of death that has been severely
over-represented in 2022 is deaths from cirrhosis
154.14 -> and other liver diseases. According to the
British NHS, the main causes of cirrhosis
159.48 -> are excess alcohol consumption, hepatitis, and
non-alcoholic fatty liver disease caused by a
166.02 -> build-up of excess fat, usually seen in people who
are overweight or obese. I presume these are all
172.14 -> hangovers of the pandemic lockdowns where people
were stuck at home all day, without work, and
177.9 -> unable to socialise and exercise as normal. This
certainly warrants further investigation I think.
184.26 -> Similarly, diabetes numbers
are significantly higher than
187.92 -> normal throughout almost the entire
year. Again, according to the NHS,
191.76 -> diabetes is often linked to people
being overweight or inactive.
196.62 -> Perhaps surprisingly, deaths from
dementia and Alzheimer's has been
201.06 -> mostly lower than expected throughout the year,
203.46 -> as has deaths from Parkinson’s disease,
or at least, it’s stayed fairly average.
208.26 -> Some viewers have been asking about ethnicity
in relation to excess deaths. White people have
214.08 -> pretty much followed the overall trend.
Asian people have seen consistent excess
218.76 -> deaths throughout the entire year, even
in the earlier months. Somewhat similarly,
223.5 -> black people have shown mostly increases in deaths
through most weeks of the year, as have people of
229.56 -> self-described ‘mixed’ ethnicity. The only group
that don’t follow a similar pattern are people who
235.14 -> identify as “other”, meaning they don’t identify
as white, black, Asian, or mixed. Throughout the
241.74 -> year, they’ve had ups and downs that pretty
much average out in terms of excess deaths.
246.9 -> Place of death is somewhat informative.
Deaths in hospitals have pretty much
251.34 -> followed the overarching trend. Deaths
in care homes has kind of followed the
255.9 -> same trend, except that there are
significantly less excess deaths.
259.56 -> Deaths in hospices have completely plummeted.
I guess people are just not going to hospices
264.66 -> as often anymore? But the standout in excess
deaths is at home. Significantly more people
270.66 -> have been dying at home throughout the
entire year than historical averages.
275.4 -> Older people have pretty much been following
the overarching excess death trend,
279.78 -> but perhaps surprisingly, 50 to 64 year-olds
have had consistent excess deaths almost every
285.48 -> week of the year. 25-49 year-olds have sort
of had a similar pattern with some significant
291.84 -> excess deaths early on in the year as well.
Whereas the youngest age category, 0 to 24
297.3 -> year-olds have had ups and downs, but mainly
highly-than-expected deaths in recent months.
303.36 -> So what can we conclude from all of this
data? Well, people are dying more often
308.04 -> from heart failure, heart disease, cirrhosis of
the liver, diabetes, they’re of mixed ethnicity,
314.52 -> 50 to 64 years old, with significantly increased
deaths at home. And nobody seems to know why.