Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2022; 119(1): 46-47

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Cardiovascular Disease in Brazil: Learning from the Data

Fernando Cesena

DOI: 10.36660/abc.20220371

This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "In-Hospital Mortality from Cardiovascular Diseases in Brazil during the First Year of The COVID-19 Pandemic".

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates nearly 15 million excess deaths associated with COVID-19 in the world in 2020 and 2021, defined as the difference between the total number of deaths (from all causes) and the number of expected deaths if there was no pandemic.

In Brazil, the WHO estimates 99 and 220 excess deaths associated with the COVID-19 pandemic per 100,000 inhabitants in 2020 and 2021, respectively. This would translate into around 680,000 excess deaths in the first two years of the pandemic, i.e., tens of thousands higher than the officially reported COVID-19 deaths in the period. Many of these excess deaths are related to sub notification due to lack of testing or misdiagnosis (true deaths from COVID-19 assigned to other conditions). Other fatal events were from other causes and somehow indirectly associated with the pandemic, such as the deaths from illnesses not properly treated due to the overwhelmed health system. Considering that cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the main cause of death in Brazil, it is crucial to unravel the impact of COVID-19 on CVD statistics.

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