Our members have now published two methodological papers in the International Journal of Public Health related to COVID-19 burden of disease assessment, both of which are featured below. The first paper reflects a developed consensus methodology on how to estimate disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to COVID-19, as a cause of a disease. This was developed by members of our European Burden of Disease Network, and a researcher from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The second paper discusses the differences and pitfalls of different approaches to valuing of years of life lost following mortality. This methodological choice has been particularly relevant since the emergence of COVID-19.

In addition to these methodological papers, three country-specific studies have now been carried out by network members, and are featured below.

Wyper GM, Assunção RM, Colzani E et al. Burden of disease methods: a guide to calculate COVID-19 disability-adjusted life years. Int J Public Health. 2021;66:619011.

Devleesschauwer B, McDonald SA, Speybroeck N, Wyper GMA. Valuing the years of life lost due to COVID-19: the differences and pitfalls. Int J Public Health. 2020;65:719–720. 

Wyper GMA, Fletcher E, Grant I et al. Measuring the direct population impact of COVID-19 in Scotland, 2020: estimating disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) during the first full calendar year. SocArXiv. 2021. doi: https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/ey36d

Rommel A, von der Lippe E, Plaß D et al. The COVID-19 disease burden in Germany in 2020—years of life lost to death and disease over the course of the pandemic. Dtsch Arztebl Int. 2021;118: 145–51. doi: https://doi.org/10.3238/arztebl.m2021.0147

Jo MW, Go DS, Kim R, Lee SW et al. The burden of disease due to COVID-19 in Korea using Disability-Adjusted Life Years. J Korean Med Sci. 2020;35(21):e199. doi: https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e199

Many other members within our network have similar assessments in progress. We have also developed a Burden of COVID-19 Working Group which is focused on:

• Sharing experiences in national burden of COVID-19 studies.
• Support with calculations, model assumptions, data gaps.
• Harmonizing methodologies and aligning strategies for communicating results.
• Discussions of related research projects, and developing evidence on long-COVID.

Anyone interested in joining this group should contact Dr. Sara Pires.