THL’s reporting on COVID-19 changing on 8 December – more accurate information on hospitalisations and deaths related to coronavirus
THL’s follow-up reports on the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic will change on Thursday, 8 December 2022.
The method of collecting data on hospitalisations related to coronavirus will become more uniform in the whole country. In addition, the cases will be reported together with other cases caused by respiratory tract infections and requiring hospitalisation.
From now on, the reporting of deaths from coronavirus will be based on causes of death, not on a temporal connection between the infection and death.
The situation with hospitalisations will be monitored using diagnosis data
As from 8 December, the data on hospitalisations caused by coronavirus will be retrieved from the Care Register for Health Care (HILMO) by using diagnosis codes. The medical care load has previously been monitored on the basis of a weekly survey filled in by the hospital districts.
In the survey used until now, respondents have been requested to separate the patients hospitalised because of coronavirus and the patients hospitalised with coronavirus. The estimates have varied by region, and some of the hospital districts have not been able to divide the patients into these groups. The data obtained from the Care Register for Health Care can be verified, combined and checked retrospectively.
“When diagnosis data are used, the definitions ‘with COVID-19’ and ‘because of COVID-19’ are geographically uniform, automated, continuous and always based on the definitions of the attending physician,” explains Tuija Leino, Chief Physician at THL.
In the open data cube, hospitalisations because of coronavirus are presented together with the other most common respiratory tract infections causing hospitalisation, in other words, influenza A, influenza B and RS viruses. The cause of the respiratory tract infection is not known in connection with all hospitalisations, which is why hospitalisations related to pathogens that have remained unidentified are also presented in the material.
Change from monitoring the temporal link to reporting deaths caused by the disease
As from 8 December, deaths from coronavirus will be reported on the basis of the preliminary screening of death certificates in the following way:
- COVID-19 infection has been recorded as the cause of death – death because of COVID-19
- COVID-19 infection has been recorded as a factor contributing to death – death with COVID-19.
“It is important to pay attention especially to deaths that have taken place because of coronavirus. The cases in which coronavirus has been recorded as a factor that has contributed to the death, the actual cause of death is something else. In Finland and internationally, we consider the number of deaths from coronavirus to include those in which death is found to have been caused by coronavirus,” Leino says.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, deaths within 30 days of a confirmed coronavirus infection have been monitored for reporting in Finland.
At the beginning of the pandemic, it was important to recognise all of the deaths that had occurred after a coronavirus infection, and the death was also often found to have a clear link to the infection. However, there are currently a large number of coronavirus infections in the population and most of them are mild. Not all of the infections have a clear causal connection with the deaths any more, and a large number of other deaths have also been included in the reporting.
“Reporting based on checking the death certificates is slower than the previous method, which combined data from the National Infectious Diseases Register and the Population Information System. However, the majority of causes of death can be obtained in a few weeks’ time. These preliminary data will be specified later,” explains Sirkka Goebeler, Chief Specialist at THL.
THL produces reports on coronavirus deaths for the follow-up of the epidemic through screening that is carried out in connection with checking the death certificates. Health care units send the death certificates to THL to be checked, and THL sends them further to Statistics Finland. Statistics Finland draws up and publishes the annual official cause of death statistics.
The information on both the situation with hospitalisations and the deaths are updated to THL's data cubes and to the coronavirus map every week.
The data cube on hospital care in acute respiratory tract infections in Finland will be published on 8 December. A link to the data cube will be updated to the coronavirus map.
An updating graph presenting the deaths the same way as previously, i.e. on the basis of the time connection between the infection and the death, will be published on THL's website until the end of 2022. For the rest of the year, the information on deaths within 30 days of a positive coronavirus test will be divided into three categories: deaths caused by coronavirus, deaths to which coronavirus has contributed, and other deaths.
Further information:
Confirmed coronavirus cases in Finland, description of open data (in Finnish)
Statistics on deaths related to COVID-19
Data cube: Inpatient care of acute respiratory tract infections in Finland
Tuija Leino
Chief Physician
THL
[email protected]
Sirkka Goebeler
Chief Specialist
THL
[email protected]
