Premature mortality from tuberculosis and HIV infection in Russia before and during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction. The introduction of restrictive measures during the COVID-19 pandemic led to a reduction in the timing of screening aimed at early detection of tuberculosis among the population. As a result, there has been increased the proportion of patients with common forms of tuberculosis, the treatment of which is of considerable complexity and creates a high risk of death.

Objective of research: study of premature mortality from tuberculosis and HIV infection in Russia before and during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Material and methods. Rosstat data on deaths due to tuberculosis and HIV infection over 2000–2020. The age of 70 years has been adopted as the standard age for calculating the indicator of has increased potential years of life lost (PYLL). Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients were used for the analysis.

Results: In Russia, before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2000–2019, the decrease in the total number of patients who died from tuberculosis and HIV infection, and the total PYLL, occurred due to a decrease in the proportion of patients who died from tuberculosis — from 99.3% to 25.4%. Pandemics in 2020 in addition, total PYLL decreased to 45.3% or by 9%, PYLL from TB to 8.9% or by 10.1%, PYLL from HIV infections to 36.4% or by 8.9% compared to 2019.

Limitations of the study. The analysis of PYLL from tuberculosis and HIV infection was carried out for the entire population and for individual age groups in 2000–2020, which was sufficient to achieve the goal.

Conclusion. In Russia, during the pandemic, the main reason for the decrease in the total PYLL and PYLL from tuberculosis and HIV infection were changes in the definition of the main cause of death in the combination of tuberculosis and HIV infection with Covid-19, when Covid-19 began to be indicated as such, and tuberculosis and HIV infection moved into the category of secondary causes and ceased to take part in the formation of mortality rates from these diseases.

Compliance with ethical standards. This study did not require the submission of the conclusion of the Biomedical ethics committee or other documents.

Contribution of the authors:
Tsybikova E.B. — concept and design of the study;
Vladimirov A.V. — processing of the material.
All co-authors are collecting material, writing and editing text.

Acknowledgment. The study had no sponsorship.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest. 

Received: July 07, 2022
Accepted: September 08, 2022
Published: July 06, 2023