Coronavirus takes 13 years off people’s lives – more than a decade before they would have died naturally, finds study

This was compared with World Health Organisation life tables, a large UK healthcare database and other data to estimate how long people with these problems might otherwise have been expected to live.

The University of Glasgow research team found that Years of Life Lost (YLL) was 13 and 11 years for men and women.

"Among patients dying of Covid-19, there appears to be a considerable burden in terms of years of life lost, commensurate with diseases such as coronary heart disease or pneumonia,” says the report.

The report says there has been focus Covid-19 affecting people with underlying health conditions.

But it says adjustment for number and type of long-term conditions only modestly reduces the estimated years of life lost due to Covid-19, compared to estimates based only on age and sex.

Their report is published in but has not yet been peer-reviewed.

"As most people dying with Covid-19 are older with underlying chronic conditions, some have speculated that the impact of the condition may have been overstated and that the actual number of years of life lost as a result of Covid-19 are relatively low,” said Dr McAllister.

"This new analysis found that death from Covid-19 results in over 10 years of life lost per person, even after taking account of the typical number and type of chronic conditions found in people dying of Covid-19.

"Among people dying of Covid-19, the number of years of life lost per person appear similar to diseases such as coronary heart disease.

"Information such as this is important to ensure governments and the public do not wrongly underestimate the effects of Covid-19 on individuals."