"This year of covid has caused Alzheimer's disease to progress more rapidly"
7 April 2021Health Tech Aragón: Entrepreneurship Program in Health Research and Technology
8 April 2021
The oldest, who accounted for 85% of those who died from coronavirus in the Community, now account for half, despite the fact that the vaccine has not yet reached everyone.
Vaccination is already clearly seen in the mortality data for Aragon. Although those over 80 years of age continue to be those who suffer the most deaths from covid in the Community, they now do so at a much lower percentage than a few months ago.
In recent weeks, as vaccine inoculation has progressed, this age group accounts for around 50% of those who died from coronavirus, when it once accounted for more than 85%. On the other hand, although the number of deaths of people between 70 and 80 years old has not increased, their weight within the total number of deaths is growing, since this sector of the population has not yet had access to the vaccine.
76% of Aragonese people over 80 years of age have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 47% already have the complete regimen. It is expected that this week this entire age group will have received at least the first of the two injections. Although, therefore, there is still a significant percentage of older people unvaccinated, the immunization work carried out can already be seen in the mortality data.
At the beginning of August, those over 80 years of age accounted for between 80% and 90% of those who died from covid in Aragon, according to data from the Carlos III Institute compiled by the Aragonese veterinary epidemiologist Nacho de Blas. As of September, the percentage stabilized at around 75%, even during the large peak in deaths that the Community suffered at the beginning of November.
Although the total number of deaths has been oscillating during the pandemic, its distribution by age has always been quite similar: those over 80 years of age accounted for around 75%, while the next most affected group was 70 to 79 (in around 15% of the total); Between 60 and 69 years old accounted for around 5% of the deceased, while the rest of the age groups had somewhat more residual percentages.
However, this distribution began to change at the beginning of February, when the start of vaccination in Aragon began to take effect. The immunization plan started in nursing homes, where people over 80 years of age are the majority. Now, these healthcare centers have residual cases of covid, and they have not suffered a single death for a month.
