Fiocruz assesses excess maternal deaths during the first two years of the Covid-19 epidemic

Study led by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), and published by the scientific journal Plos One, updates and expands the assessment of the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on maternal mortality in Brazil.

Epidemiologist Jesem Orellana, from the Leônidas & Maria Deane Institute (ILMD/Fiocruz Amazônia), and researchers linked to the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health (Cidacs), from the Gonçalo Moniz Institute/Fiocruz Bahia, to Brazilian and United States universities and Colombia showed that there was a strong increase in excess deaths during the first two years of the epidemic, regardless of the region and year of assessment.

During the first two years of the epidemic, excess maternal deaths were 69% in Brazil, with a 39% increase in the first year and a 100% increase in the second year. In the first year of the epidemic, the impact was greater in the Northeast and North regions, with 55% and 56% of excess maternal deaths, respectively. On the other hand, in the second year, there was a disproportionate impact in the Central-West and South regions, reaching 123% and 203% of excess maternal deaths, respectively. In women aged between 35 and 49 years old in the southern region, an explosive pattern was observed, with 413% excess deaths, during the four months from March to June 2021.

Study

The study used official mortality data from the Ministry of Health. “At this point in the pandemic, it does not seem reasonable to doubt the direct impacts of the epidemic on Covid-19 mortality in Brazil, as around 650,000 deaths were recorded in the first two years alone. deaths from the disease, a frightening number that proves the negligence in tackling it. However, little was known about the indirect effects of the Covid-19 epidemic and our study showed a serious impact on maternal deaths, strong enough to compromise Brazil’s goals related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It’s a shame, but let’s learn about health and humanitarian issues, as this was not the first and will not be the last pandemic we faced”, explains Orellana, who coordinates the Statistics, Geoprocessing and Epidemiology Modeling Laboratory (Legepi) at Fiocruz Amazônia.

In the article entitled Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on excess maternal deaths in Brazil: A two-year assessment (in free translation: Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on excess maternal deaths in Brazil: an assessment of the first two years) , scientists argue about this relationship and present data from the most comprehensive assessment on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on excess maternal deaths in Brazil.

Authors

The authors concluded that there was a strong excess of maternal deaths in Brazil, especially in the second year of the pandemic and in the four months from March to June 2021, a time of unprecedented and rapid spread of the Gamma variant (P1) and when many, mistakenly, believed that the epidemic was ending in the country.

“As we are talking about preventable deaths, through adequate monitoring of pregnancy and childbirth, strong and even explosive increases as shown in our study, show how precarious the management of the epidemic was in Brazil and the urgent need to improve health policies maternal and child health, especially during health crises”, ponders the epidemiologist.