The Impact of Lifestyle Alteration by Strict Prevention Measures on Non-COVID Deaths in the Region With Low COVID-19 Transmission Rate

Background The increase of all-cause mortality in the areas with high COVID-19 transmission rate due to COVID-19 deaths and the collateral damage to other healthcare problems is well known. However, the COVID-19 mortality is very low in the regions with low transmission rate and sufficient medical resources. In such regions, strict prevention measures were taken and these would alter the people's lifestyle and hygienic habits and further impact on non-COVID-19 deaths. Yet, there has no thorough investigation in this aspect.

Methods The number of registered deaths among 8.8 million permanent residents with specific causes from January 2018 to June 2020 were sourced from the Xuzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Jiangsu Province, China. Death rates were calculated and compared by weeks, months, and years with a focus on the period of COVID-19 pandemic from Jan 24 to March 27, 2020. Numeric values of all-cause death and the death rates of non-COVID diseases were compared in time series at different time scales.