Presentation of the study on excess mortality in the Slovak Republic during the coronavirus pandemic

A few days before Christmas, we organized an event where Peter presented the key conclusions of our newest study on excess mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The high death rate from COVID-19 is the result of the poor management of pandemic. The failure was mainly due to neglected preparation, chaotic political decision-making, the late introduction of a strict lockdown, but also the politicization of the topic of vaccination.
• Excess mortality was present in all EU countries, but the situation in Slovakia was particularly unfavorable (reaching 70% at the peak of the wave, a total of 26,786 excess deaths were recorded). Hypothetically, it is even possible to quantify the number of lives that could potentially be saved if the same anti-pandemic measures as in selected EU countries were introduced in Slovakia. For instance, if we were to proceed as Estonia, up to 12,391 human lives could have been saved in Slovakia. Even more lives could have been saved if we vaccinated our population as Portugal did (14,483 lives) or manged the pandemic as well as Denmark (21,308 human lives).
• At the same time, the data showed us that the key factors improving the survival prognosis were contact with a general practitioner within 14 days after the confirmation of COVID-19, female gender, the prescription of selected drugs from ATC groups, vaccination and previous overcoming of the coronavirus infection.
• On the other hand, the presence of another serious diagnosis (e.g. oncology patients), older age and also the prescription of antibiotics that were not recommended for COVID-19 treatment are considered risk factors. Likewise, with each subsequent wave of the coronavirus, the prognosis for survival worsened.

The presentation in slovak language is available for download.