COVID-19 mortality and deprivation: pandemic, syndemic, and endemic health inequalities

COVID-19 has exacerbated endemic health inequalities resulting in a syndemic pandemic of higher mortality and morbidity rates among the most socially disadvantaged. We did a scoping review to identify and synthesise published evidence on geographical inequalities in COVID-19 mortality rates globally. We included peer-reviewed studies, from any country, written in English that showed any area-level (eg, neighbourhood, town, city, municipality, or region) inequalities in mortality by socioeconomic deprivation (ie, measured via indices of multiple deprivation: the percentage of people living in poverty or proxy factors including the Gini coefficient, employment rates, or housing tenure). 95 papers from five WHO…

• WT
  Wellcome Trust

  Awards: 221266/Z/20/Z, PD-SPH-2015
• NI
  National Institute for Health and Care Research

  Award: PD-SPH-2015
• DO
  Department of Health and Social Care

  Award: PD-SPH-2015
• HF
  Health Foundation

  Award: 2211473
• NF
  Norges Forskningsråd

  Award: 288638
• SF
  School for Public Health Research

  Award: PD-SPH-2015