Mortalidad por covid-19 y otras causas durante la pandemia en Uruguay (Mortality from covid-19 and other causes during the pandemic in Uruguay)

From March 2020 to March 2022, more than 7,000 deaths from the COVID-19 disease were recorded in Uruguay, of which only 2% occurred in 2020. However, urban mobility made its greatest decrease in this first year of pandemic, falling to 57% in April 2020 from levels recorded before the virus arrived to Uruguay. These transformations affected the patterns of contagion of the SARs-COV-2 virus, maintaining levels of very low viral circulation for the international concert during 2020, but also affected the behavior of the other causes of death and the general health of the population. This paper analyzes the behavior of mortality by COVID-19 and other causes of death for 2020, the last year for which information is available published by the Ministry of Public Health for deaths by cause, age and sex. First, the potential years are estimated of life lost due to COVID-19 and other selected causes for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021. Second, it is break down by age and cause of death the gap in the values of life expectancy in 2020 and in previous years (2015-2019). This estimation makes it possible to identify which causes of death and age groups gained or lost years of life expectancy in this period. The results show that, unlike what happened in several countries in the region and the In the world, in Uruguay excess mortality was not recorded, but, on the contrary, years of life expectancy were gained compared to the pre-pandemic period. These gains were concentrated in the older age groups, in mortality from respiratory diseases, circulatory system and external causes, and were higher in men than in women