Excess Mortality in Cyprus during the COVID-19 Epidemic

Background: Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has been reported in many countries. Our study aim was to examine excess deaths in Cyprus during the pandemic as compared to the average mortality documented in the pre-pandemic period. Methods and Findings: We performed exploratory statistical analysis to examine the trends of excess mortality in Cyprus using data tabulations and graphical representations. Publicly available data reported by the Cyprus Ministry of Health to the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) were used to analyze excess mortality over a 7-year period (2016-2022). Information collected by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) on SARS-CoV-2 vaccination doses and COVID-19 related deaths were also analyzed. Through our study we demonstrate a substantial excess mortality from all causes in the Cyprus population, particularly during 2021 and 2022 even after excluding COVID-19 deaths. This increased mortality is particularly seen as compared to the first pandemic year (2020) and the pre-pandemic period. During the third and fourth quarters of 2021, total deaths represented an increase of +34.1% and +11.8%, respectively, while during the first quarter 2022, total deaths were 2365, an increase of +30.7%. Conclusion: Our findings raise serious concerns regarding the potential impact of the vaccination campaign and other causes on mortality. A detailed cause-specific investigation of such a significant excess number of deaths is warranted to explore the potential factors leading to this concerning and unexplained increase in population mortality.