All-cause excess mortality and COVID-19-related deaths in Iran

Background: Iran reported its first COVID-19 deaths on February 19, 2020 and announced 1284 deaths with a laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection by March 19, 2020 (end of the winter 1398 SH). We estimated all-cause excess mortality, compared to the historical trends, to obtain an indirect estimate of COVID-19-related deaths. Methods: We assembled time series of the seasonal number of all-cause mortalities from March 21, 2013 (spring of 1392 SH) to March 19, 2020 (winter 1398 SH) for each province of Iran and nationwide with the vital statistics data from the National Organization for Civil Registration (NOCR). We estimated the expected seasonal mortality and excess mortality (the difference between the number of registered and expected deaths). Moreover, we reviewed the provincial number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 to assess their association with excess deaths. Results: The results of our analysis showed around 7507 (95% CI: 3,350 – 11,664) and 5180 (95% CI: 1,023 – 9,337) all-cause excess mortality in fall and winter, respectively. There were 3778 excess deaths occurred in Qom, Gilan, Mazandaran, and Golestan provinces in the winter, all among the COVID-19 epicenters based on the number of confirmed cases. Conclusion: We think most of the excess deaths in the winter were related to COVID-19. Also, we think the influenza epidemic might have been the main reason for the excess mortality in the fall and parts of excess deaths in the winter of 1398 SH. Moreover, a review of all available clinical and paraclinical records and through analyses of the surveillance data for severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) can help to obtain a more accurate estimate of COVID-19 mortality.