People infected with SARS-COV-2 had more than three times the risk of dying over the following year compared with those who remained uninfected.
Short-term mortality (up to 5 weeks post-infection) was significantly higher among COVID-19 group than in the reference group.
For COVID-19 cases aged 60 years or older, increased mortality persisted until the end of the first year after infection, and was related to increased risk for cardiovascular, cancer, respiratory system diseases, and other causes of death.
Increased risk of death from SARS-CoV-2 is not limited to the acute illness: SARS-CoV-2 infection carries a substantially increased mortality in the following 12 months. This excess death mainly occurs in older people and is driven by broad array of causes of death.
