Deaths

A new report offers the most detailed estimate to date of pandemic-related deaths, finding up to the end of 2021 there were nearly 15 million deaths associated with COVID around the world. The estimate is triple the officially reported mortality figures.

Your smartphone likely vibrates multiple times a day with various notifications but in the future there may be a new kind of message coming from your smartphone, a message from an app predicting your risk of death over the coming years.

New modeling has estimated COVID-19 vaccines prevented nearly 20 million deaths worldwide in 2021. The study also concluded millions more lives could have been saved last year if vaccine distribution was more equitably spread around the globe.

A report from the CDC has found COVID-19 was the third leading cause of death in the US in 2021, after heart disease and cancer. Another new CDC report estimates nearly 60 percent of the US population had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 by February 2022.

A study is offering the first peer-reviewed investigation into the global death toll of COVID-19. Tracking excess death data from nearly 200 countries the study estimates over 18 million COVID deaths, a number three times higher than official counts.

A new study has proposed that a simple retina scan could indicate whether a person is at risk of early death. The research found the greater the gap between a person’s chronological age and retinal age the higher their risk of dying.

Researchers in the US have found changes to electrical activity in the heart can help predict which hospitalized COVID-19 patients are more likely to decline and die. The biomarker is easily measurable and may predict death several days in advance.

A study has found it may be possible to predict a person’s risk of dying more than a decade in advance by analyzing their gut bacteria. The research points to a microbial signature associated with an increased risk of mortality across a 15-year follow up.

Striking research estimates the global death toll from COVID-19 could be more than twice as high as official numbers show. Tracking overall 2020 mortality figures from around the world indicates nearly 7 million people may have succumbed to the disease.

Apollo 11 astronaut Major General Michael Collins (USAF) has died at the age of 90 after a battle with cancer. In 1969, Collins was the Command Module Pilot and remained in orbit while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to the surface.

A striking new study has found gene expression can dramatically increase in some brain cells hours after a person dies. The researchers suggest scientists studying post-mortem brain tissue must take into account these significant changes in future work.

A study published in the British Medical Journal is offering some of the first clear evidence to suggest the SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7, informally known as the UK variant, is linked with significantly higher rates of death than previously known strains.