Mortality by Health Condition Among Population Tested for COVID-19 in Mexico
As Dr. Guillermo Torre Amione—the cardiologist who heads TecSalud—has pointed out, Mexico’s government has published detailed data on over one million individuals tested for COVID-19.
The dataset, which includes each individual’s age and sex along with geographic and morbidity information is of interest since it provides input for an analysis of public health in Mexico.
The most striking statistics among the tested population are:
- the high prevalence of preexisting morbidity (40% are reported as having hypertension, obesity, diabetes, smoking, asthma, cardiovascular disease, kidney failure and/or immunosuppression) and
- the significantly higher death rate among those with preexisting morbidities than those free of them (11.0% vs 3.0%)
The toll exacted by multimorbidity associated with malnutrition in Mexico was too high to ignore even before the COVID-19 pandemic. The OECD, for example, has estimated that obesity diminishes average life expectancy in the country by 4.2 years and reduces Mexico’s GDP by 5.3%.
2020 has brought most Mexicans to the realization that, after decades of neglect and mismangement, urgent and significant changes are needed in the public health policy, regulatory and enforcement arenas.