Excess mortality among the elderly in European countries, December 2014 to February 2015

K Mølbak; L Espenhain; J Nielsen; K Tersago; N Bossuyt; G Denissov; A Baburin; M Virtanen; A Fouillet; T Sideroglou; K Gkolfinopoulou; A Paldy; J Bobvos; L van Asten; M de Lange; B Nunes; S da Silva; A Larrauri; I L Gómez; A Tsoumanis; C Junker; H Green; R Pebody; J McMenamin; A Reynolds; A Mazick

doi:10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.11.21065

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Excess mortality among the elderly in European countries, December 2014 to February 2015
K Mølbak¹ , L Espenhain¹ , J Nielsen¹ , K Tersago² , N Bossuyt² , G Denissov³ , A Baburin³ , M Virtanen⁴ , A Fouillet⁵ , T Sideroglou⁶ , K Gkolfinopoulou⁶ , A Paldy⁷ , J Bobvos⁷ , L van Asten⁸ , M de Lange⁸ , B Nunes⁹ , S da Silva⁹ , A Larrauri¹⁰ , I L Gómez¹⁰ , A Tsoumanis¹¹ , C Junker¹² , H Green¹³ , R Pebody¹³ , J McMenamin¹⁴ , A Reynolds¹⁴ , A Mazick¹
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Affiliations: ¹ Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark ² Scientific Institute of Public Health, Brussels, Belgium ³ National Institute for Health Devlopment, Tallinn, Estonia ⁴ National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland ⁵ French Institute for Public Health Surveillance (Institut de Veille Sanitaire, InVS), Saint-Maurice, France ⁶ Hellenic Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Athens, Greece ⁷ National Institute of Environmental Health, Budapest, Hungary ⁸ National Institute of Public Health and The Environment (RIVM), the Netherlands ⁹ Instituto Nacional de Saúde Dr. Ricardo Jorge, Lisbon, Portugal ¹⁰ National Centre of Epidemiology; CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP) Institute of Health Carlos III, Madrid, Spain ¹¹ The Public Health Agency of Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden ¹² Federal Statistical Office, Neuchâtel, Switzerland ¹³ Public Health England, London, United Kingdom ¹⁴ Health Protection Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Correspondence:
K Mølbak
krm ssi.dk
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Citation style for this article: Mølbak K, Espenhain L, Nielsen J, Tersago K, Bossuyt N, Denissov G, Baburin A, Virtanen M, Fouillet A, Sideroglou T, Gkolfinopoulou K, Paldy A, Bobvos J, van Asten L, de Lange M, Nunes B, da Silva S, Larrauri A, Gómez I L, Tsoumanis A, Junker C, Green H, Pebody R, McMenamin J, Reynolds A, Mazick A. Excess mortality among the elderly in European countries, December 2014 to February 2015. Euro Surveill. 2015;20(11):pii=21065. https://doi.org/10.2807/1560-7917.ES2015.20.11.21065 Received: 23 Feb 2015

Abstract

Since December 2014 and up to February 2015, the weekly number of excess deaths from all-causes among individuals?≥?65 years of age in 14 European countries have been significantly higher than in the four previous winter seasons. The rise in unspecified excess mortality coincides with increased proportion of influenza detection in the European influenza surveillance schemes with a main predominance of influenza A(H3N2) viruses seen throughout Europe in the current season, though cold snaps and other respiratory infections may also have had an effect.