Five data-related key issues

ANALYSING THE DAILY TOTAL DEATHS COUNT. Daily counting of deaths by COVID-19, number and accumulation, makes it possible to follow the trend and pace of the epidemics (slowing down, acceleration, plateau, peak, trough). Time or international perspective exercises must be conducted with caution: the data published in each country are derived from specific collection systems.

PROVIDING WELL-DOCUMENTED DATA. The aim of the INED website on mortality by COVID-19 is to disseminate the data published by different countries (by sex and age) The data on this site are enriched by detailed information on their sources (metadata).

HIGHLIGHTING DATA POTENTIALS AND LIMITS. The aim of the INED website is also to highlight their potential, while drawing attention to their specificities, differences and shortcomings to be avoided when using them. Based on these data and metadata, we illustrate here five data-related key issues.

1. OCCURENCE, REGISTRATION, AND PUBLICATION OF DEATHS:
The publication of a death by health monitoring agencies is not immediate. Electronic platform systems speed up publication but are not always widespread. What then is the cumulative total of deaths reported on a daily basis? Neither all nor only the deaths of the day.
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2. DEATHS AT HOSPITALS, SOCIO-MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS, AND HOME:
The share of deaths in hospital, at home and in institutions for the elderly varies from country to country; the process and speed of registration of deaths may vary according to the place. Some country counts are thus limited to information from one main channel. So what is the actual coverage of reported deaths? Total, partial, representative, selected...
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3. DEATH FROM COVID-19 OR RELATED TO ANOTHER CAUSE:
The criteria for attributing a death to COVID-19 vary between countries and data sources, including biological tests, clinical diagnoses, or a reference to the infection on the death certificate. Pending the release of vital statistics listing the causes of death more precisely, what can we learn from the analysis of excess mortality during the pandemic?
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4. SPATIAL DISSEMINATION AND GLOBAL MOMENTUM OF THE EPIDEMIC:
The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic is an ongoing question that continues to fuel scientific debate. The question today is not the date on which the pandemic started in each country but the successive waves of the spread of the virus. These waves respond to numerous factors.
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5. TAKING ACCOUNT OF DEATHS ACCORDING TO SEX AND AGE:
Given the vulnerability of older people to this virus, the age structure of populations in different countries plays a determining role in the number of deaths. Differences in sex and age in the different places where death occurs is also imprtant for the analyses. Deaths by COVID-19 are concentrated at older ages and affect men more than women. But there are differences between countries.
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