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Disparities in excess deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic among migrant workers in Kuwait. BMC Public Health 2021 Sep 14;21(1):1668

Date

09/16/2021

Pubmed ID

34521360

Pubmed Central ID

PMC8438289

DOI

10.1186/s12889-021-11693-w

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-85115023133 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   11 Citations

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The actual human cost of the pandemic cannot be viewed through the COVID-19 mortality rates alone, especially when the pandemic is widening the existing health disparities among different subpopulations within the same society. In Kuwait, migrant workers were already disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and its unintended consequences. The totality of that effect on mortality is yet to be fully understood.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate excess deaths in the pandemic year of 2020 among the Kuwaiti and non-Kuwaiti migrant populations.

METHODS: We analyzed publicly available retrospective data in Kuwait on total annual mortality historically (from 2005 to 2019) and in 2020. We fitted a quasi-poisson generalized linear model adjusted for yearly trend and nationality to estimate the expected deaths in 2020 in the absence of the pandemic. We calculated excess deaths as the difference between observed and expected mortality for the year of the pandemic in both Kuwaitis and non-Kuwaitis.

RESULTS: In the absence of the pandemic, we expected the total mortality in Kuwait to be 6629 (95% CI: 6472 to 6789) deaths. However, the observed total mortality in 2020 was 9975 deaths; about 3346 (3186 to 3503) more deaths above the expected historical trend. Deaths among migrant workers would have been approximately 71.9% (67.8 to 76.0) lower in the absence of the pandemic. On the other hand, deaths among Kuwaitis would have been 32.4% (29.3 to 35.6) lower if the country had not been hit by the pandemic.

CONCLUSION: The burden of mortality brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic is substantially higher than what the official tally might suggest. Systematically disadvantaged migrant workers shouldered a larger burden of deaths in the pandemic year. Public health interventions must consider structural and societal determinants that give rise to the health disparities seen among migrant workers.

Author List

Alahmad B, AlMekhled D, Odeh A, Albloushi D, Gasana J

Author

Janvier Gasana MD, MPH, PhD Adjunct Associate Professor in the Institute for Health and Equity department at Medical College of Wisconsin




MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Humans
Kuwait
Pandemics
Retrospective Studies
Transients and Migrants