Scandinavian Journal of Public Health最新文献

{"title":"Perceived infection risk, infection exposure, and compliance to infection control measures among the first COVID-19 patients in Norway.","authors":"Bjørn Sætrevik, Rebecca J Cox, Dagrun W Linchausen, Sebastian B Bjørkheim","doi":"10.1177/14034948251315341","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948251315341","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic provided a unique opportunity to assess how infected patients viewed risk. We investigated whether cases infected early in the pandemic had assessed the risk to be lower, been more exposed and took fewer precautions to prevent infection.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We asked first-wave Norwegian COVID-19 patients (<i>n</i> = 88) to recall how they had thought about risk of infection, exposure in potential infectious situations and their compliance to infection control measures early in the pandemic. Answers from this group were compared WITH emergency room patients with non-pulmonary complaints (<i>n</i> = 75) and with a nationally representative sample (<i>n</i> = 4083).</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Both patient groups saw the risk as lower than did the representative sample. Contact with infected people was more frequent for the COVID-19 patients than for the other patients. More of the COVID-19 patients had travelled abroad immediately before the outbreak. COVID-19 patients complied less with the infection control measures than did the representative sample. The COVID-19 patients agreed less than the other patients with a statement that they had 'complied in general'.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>Risk-behaviour was overrepresented among the first COVID-19 patients. Potential memory artefacts should be considered when interpreting the results.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"517-524"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12159351/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143524953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of the women invited to the COVIDPregDK cohort: a non-response analysis.","authors":"Christina R Bonnevie, Mia Y Olsen, Katrine H Rubin, Mette Bliddal, Lonny Stokholm","doi":"10.1177/14034948251332452","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948251332452","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Aim</i>: This study aimed to examine the demographic characteristics associated with participation in the COVIDPregDK cohort, aiming to identify potential sources of selection bias. <i>Methods:</i> In this nationwide register-based cohort study, data were used from the COVIDPregDK study, which encompasses a cohort of pregnant women from 2020 and linked them to data from the Danish registries. A comparison between women responding and those who did not respond to the questionnaire was conducted to assess their demographic and socioeconomic characteristics. The associations between respondents and various characteristics were analysed using logistic regression models. <i>Results:</i> The questionnaire garnered a response rate of 60%, with participation from 17,047 pregnant women and non-participation from 11,577. Respondent women were most often 30-34 years of age, of Danish origin, highly educated, and had the highest family income than non-respondents. Additionally, women above 35 years represented the most decisive risk factor of responding (35-39: odds ratio (OR) 1.17 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.08-1.27); 40+: OR 1.27 95% CI 1.10-1.48)). Characteristics of non-respondents: families with three or more children (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.47-0.64)); immigrants (OR 0.38 (95% CI 0.35-0.40)) and descendants (OR 0.39 (95% CI 0.34-0.45)); low educated (OR 0.40 (95% CI 0.36-0.44)) and low income (OR 0.67 (95% CI 0.61-0.72)). <b><i>Conclusions:</i> This study found significant demographic and socioeconomic disparities between respondent and non-respondent pregnant women in the COVIDPregDK study, indicating higher participation from women with higher socioeconomic status. Despite the societal lockdown during COVID-19, the lockdown did not mitigate the pre-existing factors hindering women with low socioeconomic status from engaging in research.</b></p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"525-532"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144081509","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Associations between mRNA COVID-19 vaccination and urticaria: a nationwide registry-based cohort study in Denmark.","authors":"Elena Dudukina, Elvira V Brâuner, Cæcilie B Christiansen, Stine H Mogensen, Mona E Hervig, Stine Ulsø, Martin Z Larsen","doi":"10.1177/14034948251333901","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948251333901","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Objectives: </strong>To investigate the association between mRNA COVID-19 vaccination and the risk of urticaria.</p><p><strong>Study design: </strong>Nationwide observational cohort study.</p><p><strong>Setting: </strong>Healthcare registers in Denmark.</p><p><strong>Participants: </strong>The vaccinated cohort included Danish residents aged ⩾5 years who received at least one dose of Comirnaty (Pfizer-BioNTech, BNT) or Spikevax (Moderna, MOD) in December 2020 to July 2023; the pre-pandemic (2017-19) general population aged ⩾5 years formed the comparator cohort.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Urticaria-free participants were followed from the vaccination date until the earliest of the incident chronic or other types of urticaria diagnosis, COVID-19 infection, end of the 90-day outcome risk window, death, emigration, or October 2023. The expected number of urticaria events was computed using indirect standardisation of the pre-pandemic urticaria incidence rates. Standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) with corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated overall and across sex, age and vaccine sequence-specific strata.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We ascertained 4,700,301 vaccinated and 5,480,146 pre-pandemic comparators. Following all vaccine product sequences, SIRs (95% CI) were 0.83 (0.71-0.96) for chronic urticaria and 1.14 (95% CI 1.03-1.25) for other types of urticaria. Among MOD schedule adherers, the risk was three to fourfold increased for chronic (SIR 3.00, 95% CI 2.27-3.88) and other types of urticaria (SIR 3.65, 95% CI 3.06-4.31). Sensitivity analyses of dose specific effects confirmed a fourfold increased risk after MOD vaccine sequence but not BNT.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Following the most recent mRNA vaccination dose, MOD vaccine schedule adherers had a higher than expected incidence of chronic and other types of urticaria. We found no association between BNT vaccination schedule and increased risk of urticaria.</p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"533-543"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144175491","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"New insights into the paradox between smoking and the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19): Insufficient evidence for a causal association.","authors":"Iris Kramer, Yinjie Zhu, Naomi A Van Westen-Lagerweij, Louise H Dekker, Jochen O Mierau, Esther A Croes","doi":"10.1177/14034948241253690","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948241253690","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Previous studies have reported a 'smoker's paradox', where people who smoke appear to be protected against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome CoronaVirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection (COVID-19). This conflicts with well-established evidence that people who smoke are generally more vulnerable to respiratory infections. In this study, we aimed to validate the association between smoking and SARS-CoV-2 infection in a general Dutch population, and to evaluate the evidence underlying the possible causal relationship between smoking and SARS-CoV-2 infection by applying a modern adaptation of the Bradford Hill criteria.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>In total, 57,833 participants from the Lifelines Cohort Study were included in the analysis. Smoking status, including never smoker, current smoker, and former smoker, was derived from the Lifelines general assessment between 2014 and 2017, while SARS-CoV-2 infection status was derived from an additional COVID-19 questionnaire from 2021 to 2022. Logistic regressions were used for the association between smoking status and infection status. The adapted Bradford Hill's criteria, including the strength of association (including an analysis of plausible confounding), plausibility, temporality and study design suitability, were applied to evaluate the existing literature.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We found, compared with never smokers, an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection for former smokers (odds ratio (OR)=1.07, 95% confidence interval (CI)=1.01-1.13), but a reduced risk for current smokers (OR=0.85, 95% CI=0.79-0.92), after adjusting for several relevant covariates. However, we discerned a possible explanation of the smoker's paradox since we observed that current smokers were more likely to be non-responders to the COVID-19 questions and, more importantly, these non-responders were more likely to have other established risk factors for SARS-CoV-2 infection.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>There is insufficient evidence to suggest that smoking protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection. According to the adapted Bradford Hill's criteria, we observed a high inconsistency between study results, a high possibility for residual confounding and no clear evidence for biological plausibility. Future studies should include linkage with the confirmed testing results from national healthcare registries to mitigate avoidable bias.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"552-559"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12159344/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141856971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trends of fully alcohol-attributable mortality rates before and during COVID-19 in the Baltic and other European countries.","authors":"Jürgen Rehm, Alexander Tran, Ahmed Syed Hassan, Huan Jiang, Shannon Lange, Rainer Reile, Mindaugas Štelemėkas","doi":"10.1177/14034948241280772","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948241280772","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>We tested the polarization hypothesis, which postulates that during times of crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, alcohol consumption increases among the heaviest drinkers but decreases among most other drinkers, resulting in an overall decrease in consumption among the population. We posited the increase in heavy drinking would lead to increases in 100% alcohol-attributable (AA) mortality. Furthermore, based on the high level of alcohol consumption in the Baltic countries compared to other European countries, we predicted that the increases in AA mortality would be more pronounced in these countries.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data for 100% AA deaths were obtained from the World Health Organization for the period 2010 to 2022, and standardized to the regional age distribution for 2010. Parametric and non-parametric tests were used to test the study hypotheses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean age-standardized 100% AA mortality rate increased during the COVID-19 pandemic in the 19 European countries with data by 3.12 deaths per 100,000 population, constituting an 18% increase (tested against no change: <i>t</i> = 2.52; df = 18; <i>p</i> = 0.021). This increase was higher in the Baltic countries (mean difference = 13.41 deaths per 100,000 population; standard deviation (SD) = 7.44; 46% increase) than for other European countries (mean difference = 1.19; SD = 1.55; 8% increase). The increases in 100% AA mortality were associated with decreases in the level of alcohol consumption in the majority of countries.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>As predicted, 100% AA mortality increased in 19 European countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Baltic countries seeing a higher increase. Renewed alcohol control policy efforts should be considered.</p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"482-489"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142382069","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Employment protection policies in the COVID-19 context: Did they protect workers' mental health? An intersectional perspective of the Spanish case.","authors":"Laura Esteve-Matalí, Sergio Salas-Nicás, Clara Llorens-Serrano, Albert Navarro-Giné","doi":"10.1177/14034948251332510","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948251332510","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><i>Aim:</i> To assess differences in the prevalence of poor mental health of the Spanish salaried population according to the labour situation (employed, unemployed, under a suspension-furlough or under a reduction-furlough), from an intersectional perspective (sex and occupational class), 1 year after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. <i>Methods:</i> Cross-sectional study by means of a self-administered online questionnaire, on the Spanish salaried population. Final sample: 22,210 participants. Data collection: April-May 2021. Outcome variable: poor mental health (Mental Health Inventory Short-Form-36 scale). Explanatory variable: current employment status. Stratification variables: sex and occupational class. Confounding variables: age, occupational group, type of contract, living with children under 12-years old and living with chronic or disabled people. A descriptive analysis was carried out and prevalence and prevalence ratios (PR with 95% confidence interval (95%CI)) were estimated by means of robust Poisson regression models. <i>Results:</i> Around 55% of the sample presented poor mental health outcomes. Employed people have less frequent mental health problems than those unemployed (PR: 0.83; 95%CI: 0.79-0.87). In terms of the association between furlough and mental health, different patterns are glimpsed between men and women and, among these, between manual and non-manual workers. Manual men in a suspension-furlough had less frequent mental health problems than those unemployed (PR: 0.75; 95%CI: 0.62-0.91). <b><i>Conclusions:</i> This study suggests new insights into the patterns of association observed between furlough and workers' mental health, helping to understand the phenomenon and better design future employment protection policies, which should include a gender and class perspective to avoid the introduction of mental health inequalities.</b></p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"544-551"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144081526","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Trust in scientific institutions and experts during the first 2 years of the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland.","authors":"Piia T Jallinoja, Eetu V Vento, Esa T Väliverronen","doi":"10.1177/14034948241289633","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948241289633","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>To explore variations in trust in science and scientific institutions in Finland during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the factors influencing trust in experts of a key institution in the management of the pandemic, the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). These results are contrasted with trust in the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Five surveys were conducted between April 2020 and March 2022 (<i>n</i>=5448). The changes were tested with the chi-square test. Predictors of trust in THL and the ministry was examined with binary logistic regression.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Trust in science and key scientific institutions remained consistently high throughout this period. In the early pandemic, trust in the ministry declined. The most significant explanatory factors for trust in THL and the ministry were being a supporter of some other party than the right-wing Finns Party and belonging to the age groups over 50 years.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>Our findings indicate that the pandemic, marked by unpredictability, did not weaken trust in science and THL, whereas trust in the ministry responsible for managing the pandemic and university experts weakened. In increasingly politically polarised societies, the impact of political sentiments on health-related perceptions and choices should be analysed more in future public health studies.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"490-497"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12159355/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142511672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Occupational-related risk of testing SARS-CoV-2 positive for publicly employed medical doctors in Sweden: A nationwide cohort study.","authors":"Osvaldo Fonseca-Rodriguez, Emma Tobjörk, Hanna Jerndal, Marie Eriksson, Anne-Marie Fors Connolly","doi":"10.1177/14034948241304487","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948241304487","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Doctors have an increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection caused by exposure to contagious patients. We aimed to identify which clinical specialities among medical doctors had the highest occupation-related risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2, utilizing data for all publicly employed medical doctors in Sweden.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>Data regarding positive SARS-CoV-2 test results and employment for publicly employed doctors in Sweden were divided into three observation periods: 1) 1 February to 31 December 2020, 2) 1 January to 30 June 2021 and 3) 1 July 2021 to 31 March 2022. Individuals were stratified according to occupation clinic and compared with clinical occupations with little to no patient contact. The risk of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 was estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression, with sex, age and vaccination status as covariates.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The study cohort included all publicly employed doctors in Sweden: 35,028 individuals. In the first period, Infectious Disease doctors had the highest incidence of SARS-CoV-2 positive tests, with an incidence of 20.2 %, compared with 8.7 % in the reference group, and an adjusted hazard ratio of 2.5 (95% confidence interval 2.02-3.04), which decreased during period 2-3. Doctors in Geriatric Medicine had an elevated risk throughout the whole study period.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>Our study shows an association between working in a speciality that involves caring for contagious COVID-19 patients, which raises concerns about infection control measures and routines being insufficient to prevent occupational infection in future pandemics.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"498-507"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12159338/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142899846","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Social cohesion and COVID-19 mortality in different periods of the pandemic: variable efficacy of trust in civil services.","authors":"Ying-Chih Chuang, Rong-Xian Chen, Hsueh-Wen Hsu, Peng-Hua Lee","doi":"10.1177/14034948251314082","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948251314082","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>Social cohesion has been reported to influence various health outcomes positively. However, inconsistent results were reported regarding the effects of social cohesion dimensions on the COVID-19 mortality rate (MR). Most studies have indicated that trust in civil services but not participating in social activities reduces COVID-19 mortality, possibly because of the highly contagious nature of this disease. In this study, we investigated how the effects of various dimensions of social cohesion on COVID-19 MR vary across different phases of the pandemic.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study used data from 86 countries participating in the 2017-2020 World Values Survey. The measures of social cohesion were identified by aggregating responses to the country level. COVID-19 MR was calculated-using data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control-separately for three distinct periods during the pandemic: 13 January 2020-8 November 2020; 9 November 2020-5 September 2021; and 6 September 2021-20 June 2022. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted to identify the dimensions of social cohesion, and negative binomial regression models were constructed to analyze data for each period.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The EFA results revealed three dimensions of social cohesion: social participation and inclusion, health service equality, and trust in civil services and democracy. COVID-19 MR was negatively associated with trust in civil services and democracy during the early two periods and with social participation and inclusion during the late period.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>Each social cohesion dimension uniquely contributed to reducing the COVID-19 MR in different pandemic periods.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"508-516"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143392241","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The aftermath of COVID-19: Mortality impact of the pandemic on older persons in Sweden and other Nordic countries, 2020-2023.","authors":"Bo Burström, Örjan Hemström, Megan Doheny, Janne Agerholm, Ann Liljas","doi":"10.1177/14034948241253339","DOIUrl":"10.1177/14034948241253339","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Aims: </strong>The COVID-19 pandemic hit Sweden harder than the other Nordic countries in the early phase, especially among older persons. We compared the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality especially among older persons during the period 2020-2022 in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway, using four different outcome measures.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>We compared publicly available information on reported cases and deaths in COVID-19 from the World Health Organization COVID-19 Dashboard, age-specific mortality rates, life expectancy at age 65 years and excess mortality from Nordic Statistics database and national statistics and health agencies in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The pandemic peaked earlier in Sweden than in Denmark, Finland and Norway, where cases and deaths increased more during 2021 and 2022, also reflected in age-specific death rates among persons aged 70+ years. COVID-19 mortality was highest in Sweden, followed by Finland, Denmark and Norway. Life expectancy declined during 2020 in Sweden but more during 2021 and 2022 in Denmark, Finland and Norway. Excess mortality during 2020-2022 was nearly twice as high in Finland as in the other countries.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>\u0000 <b>COVID-19 mortality was higher in Sweden than in Denmark, Finland and Norway. Life expectancy declined during 2020 in Sweden, was partly regained in 2021 and 2022, while it declined during 2021 and 2022 in Denmark, Norway and Finland. However, excess mortality during 2020-2022 was similar in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and twice as high in Finland. Different mortality outcomes reflect the complexity of the mortality impact of COVID-19.</b>\u0000 </p>","PeriodicalId":49568,"journal":{"name":"Scandinavian Journal of Public Health","volume":" ","pages":"456-464"},"PeriodicalIF":2.6,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12159333/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141297174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}