Total and cause-specific mortality before and after the onset of the Greek economic crisis: an interrupted time-series analysis

BackgroundGreece was one of the countries hit the hardest by the 2008 financial crisis in Europe. Yet, evidence on the effect of the crisis on total and cause-specific mortality remains unclear. We explored whether the economic crisis affected the trend of overall and cause-specific mortality rates.MethodsWe used regional panel data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority to assess mortality trends by age, sex, region, and cause in Greece between January, 2001, and December, 2013. We used Eurostat data to calculate monthly age-standardised mortality rates per 100 000 inhabitants for each region. Data were divided into two subperiods: before the crisis (January, 2001, to August, 2008) and after the onset of the crisis (September, 2008, to December, 2013). We tested for changes in the slope of mortality by doing an interrupted time-series analysis.FindingsOverall mortality continued to decline after the onset of the financial crisis (-0·065, 95% CI -0·080 to -0·049), but at a slower pace than before the crisis (-0·13, -0·15 to -0·10; trend difference 0·062, 95% CI 0·041 to 0·083; pInterpretationMortality trends have been interrupted after the onset of compared with before the crisis, but changes vary by age, sex, and cause of death. The increase in deaths due to adverse events during medical treatment might reflect the effects of deterioration in quality of care during economic recessions.FundingNone.