Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was the most common pre-existing condition associated with Covid-19 related deaths in Northern Ireland.
Between 1st March and 31st December 2020, Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease was a pre existing condition in 32.2 per cent or 524 of the 1,626 of Covid-19 deaths, according to a report by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA).
The next most common pre-existing conditions were diabetes, accounting for 335 of the 1,626 deaths and hypertensive diseases accounting for 332 deaths.
Pre-existing conditions are defined as any mention on the death certificate of a condition that pre-dated or was independent of Covid-19.
There were no pre-existing conditions for 157 of the 1,626 Covid-19 deaths (9.7%), while just over half (816) of Covid-19 deaths (50.2%) had one or two pre-existing conditions. On average, there were 2.4 pre-existing conditions per Covid-19 death.
Between 1st March and 31st December 2020, there were 1,831 Covid-19 related deaths registered in Northern Ireland. Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death (that is, the disease or injury which initiated the train of morbid events leading directly to death) for 1,626 deaths (88.8% of Covid-19 related deaths).
During January and February 2021, a further 975 Covid-19 related deaths were registered.
Over the entire period between 1st March 2020 and 28th February 2021, there were 2,814 Covid-19 related deaths registered in Northern Ireland.
Covid-19 was reported in the causal chain of events leading to death for 2,451 deaths, and for 216 of these 2,451 deaths (8.8%), there were no pre-existing conditions.
NISRA said there is, at present, insufficient information to identify the number and type of pre-existing conditions over this entire twelve-month period.