A new report examining changes in end-of-life care and places of death in the time of COVID-19 found an interesting trend. There was a decrease in people dying in hospitals from non-COVID-19-related causes at the beginning of the pandemic. Three years into the pandemic, however, that rate changed — and continues to do so.
Researchers looked at data that came from before and during the pandemic — from March 2017 to March 2023. There were 38,300,000 deaths from January 2010 to June 2023. Of the deaths, 1,000,000 were attributed to COVID-19. All of the results were published in JAMA Network Open on Monday.
When the pandemic began in March 2020, there was an 11% increase in dying at hospitals from COVID-19, while non-COVID-19 in-hospital deaths fell by 13%. At the same time, there was a 19% increase in non-COVID-19 home deaths and a 13% decrease in non-COVID-19 deaths in nursing facilities. The data showed a 22% decrease in non-COVID-19 deaths within hospice facilities.
Three years after the pandemic began, people dying in hospitals continued to go up compared with before the pandemic. In-hospital mortality for people without COVID-19 diagnoses rose, but not significantly. Non-COVID-19 home death rates are still significantly elevated compared with pre-pandemic trends, while non-COVID-19 death rates within nursing and hospice facilities remain significantly low.
“While the pandemic strained end-of-life services, it also coincided with pre-existing concerns, such as issues with hospice quality measures and regulation of for-profit hospices acquired by private equity firms,” the authors wrote. “Our study provides further evidence that additional focus to ensure access to end-of-life services is necessary.”
The news comes as COVID-19-related deaths of nursing home residents have increased and vaccination rates have fallen as of December 2023. According to statistics, about 1,000 residents died from the virus in the fall last year. About 9,000 residents died during the year, AARP reported. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 185,000 nursing home patients have died of COVID-19.
