{
  "abstract": "Introduction COVID-19 pandemic significantly impacted global mortality; however, many deaths were underreported. Excess mortality explains both direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and therefore provides true and better estimates of pandemic deaths. Objectives The objective of this study was to estimate excess all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural area of North India. Methods The study was carried out in the field practice area of the Rural Health Training Centre (RHTC) of a tertiary care hospital in North India. This area covers fifteen villages where home-based comprehensive health care is provided. Age, gender, and month-wise mortality data of these villages (for the years 2015-2023) were extracted from the records. Two models, historical five-year average and negative binomial regression, were used to estimate all-cause excess mortality for the COVID-19 period (January 2020-May 2023) compared with pre-pandemic years (2015-2019). Excess mortality was estimated as the difference between the number of all-cause deaths and baseline expected deaths for each model. Percentage excess mortality (ratio of excess deaths to expected deaths) was calculated. Results Monthly all-cause excess mortality was observed to be higher (exceeding 95% CI upper bounds) during the months of April, May, and August 2021 than expected mortality. May 2021 had the highest excess mortality, consisting of 47 and 43 deaths (223.8%, 167.4%) using historical average and negative binomial regression analysis, respectively. However, it was lower than expected in 2020, 2022, and 2023. Males and adults aged 40-59 years had higher excess mortality. Overall excess mortality was 19 (1.8%), with the year 2021 reporting high excess mortality of 72 (24%). Conclusions Findings indicate significant excess all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study witnessed high excess mortality across age groups, particularly among 40- to 59-year-old adults and males.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, IND.",
    "Biostatistics, Community Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, IND."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Mahesh Satija"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Anurag Chaudhary"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Pranjl Sharma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Surinder P Singh"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Nishant Sharma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sarit Sharma"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sangeeta Girdhar"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Vikram K Gupta"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Priya Bansal"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3kpykrzstpsts.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.7759/cureus.116525",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13678710",
  "id": "3kpykrzstpsts",
  "issns": [
    "2168-8184"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899133",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2611|COVID-19 epidemiological studies"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213667512",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13678710?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13678710",
  "pmid": "42899133",
  "published": "2026-09-19",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3kpykrzstpsts.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42899133",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42899133"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "mathematics",
      "origin": "openalex:2611|COVID-19 epidemiological studies",
      "subfield": "general"
    }
  ],
  "title": "All-Cause Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Rural Area of North India.",
  "title_text": "All-Cause Excess Mortality During the COVID-19 Pandemic in a Rural Area of North India.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3kpykrzstpsts",
  "venue": "Cureus",
  "versions": []
}