More Coloradans died of heart disease, overdoses and other medical conditions than would be expected in the early months of the pandemic, as total deaths grew by an estimated 22% across the state, according to data analyzed by The Denver Post .
Much of that increase is due to COVID-19, but death certificate data suggest that the pandemic has an indirect toll on human life, due to fatal cases of heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, chronic liver disease and drug overdose increased slightly between March and May.
Health experts said the increase in deaths was due in part to people with serious conditions delaying treatment as the new coronavirus swept the state. But, they said, it may also reflect the toll of mental health that the crisis has on people, because health conditions, such as those caused by heart disease and substance abuse, can be made worse by stress.
“We know that not only physical stress but mental stress has incredibly negative effects on the body,” said Dr. Wendolyn Gozansky, geriatrician and COVID-19 medical director for Kaiser Permanente.
There were 12,051 total deaths in Colorado between March and May, up from the 9,892 deaths the state recorded on average for the same period in the previous three years, according to preliminary data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The novel coronavirus has contributed to an increase in deaths this year. As of Friday, more than 1,730 people had died from COVID-19 in Colorado, while more than 1,850 people had died with the virus in their system, according to the Department of Health.
There has been a week-long delay in death certificate data, so numbers as of July are incomplete. However, data provided by the state show that to date, overall deaths have risen by about 13% for the months of June and July, as a total of more than 6,770 people have died.
One notable cause of death is down during the pandemic: There were 289 suicides in Colorado between March and May, an 11% decrease from the 3-year average of 326 deaths by suicide, according to state data.
A separate analysis of excessive deaths by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that there is “no consistent trend” among non-COVID deaths, said Meghan Buran, senior professional research assistant to the dean at the Colorado School of Public Health in in e-mail.
But the state health department reports an uptick in non-COVID deaths. Fatalities from heart disease, including those from heart attacks and strokes, increased during the height of the pandemic, said Kirk Bol, director of the state Department of Health’s life statistics program.
Between March and May, there were 2,029 deaths related to heart disease, 8.2% up from the 3-year average of 1,875, according to the death certificate data analyzed by The Post.
Conditions such as heart attacks and strokes need immediate medical help and doctors have worried that people do not seek care because they are afraid to go to the hospitals during the pandemic and the risk of infection. Earlier this year, hospitals in Denver reported a drop in the number of patients coming into their emergency rooms.
Unintended overdoses also increased 57% during those three months to 328 deaths, according to state data.
“Deaths from overdose are above what we would see,” Bol said.
There has also been an increase in deaths related to Alzheimer’s disease, reflecting how the pandemic has disproportionately affected older Coloradoans, especially those living in long-term care facilities, Bol said.
There were 561 deaths due to Alzheimer’s complications in March and May, up from the three-year average of 459 deaths for the same period.
It is unclear why these deaths have increased and if anything changed the natural progression of the disease in patients.
Older Coloradans account for a large proportion of COVID-19 deaths, with nearly 53% of such deaths occurring among those 80 and older.
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