COVID-19 burden of disease

Background

The Scottish Burden of Disease study measures DALYs due to over 100 causes of disease and injury. DALYs are the sum of  years lost to premature mortality (YLL) and years lost to ill-health (YLD), compared to aspirational health. We have carried out work to estimate the overall, and inequalities in the, direct impact of COVID-19 on population health measures through DALYs, YLL and YLL.

Key publication

Previous publications

  • A research paper on inequalities in COVID-19 DALYs due to multiple deprivation in 2020, scaled against pre-pandemic causes, published in the International Journal for Equity in Health
  • A blog published by Voluntary Health Scotland on the overall, and inequalities in, years of healthy life lost in Scotland’s communities in 2020
  • A research paper on overall COVID-19 DALYs in 2020, scaled against pre-pandemic causes, published in the Archives of Public Health 

Visual summary of previous publications

The infographic below is a visual summary of the findings of our previous publications. This can be downloaded in a higher resolution by clicking here.

Methodology

The infographic below includes some individual examples of how we have estimated the combined direct health impact of ill-health and mortality due to COVID-19.