Analysis of the variation of age-specific life expectancies between sexes due to Covid-19 in the National Capital Region (NCR), the Philippines

• Main Author: Tatoy, Aubrey Christine C.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2022
• Subjects: COVID-19 Pandemic, 2020 > -Philippines; Life expectancy; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etdb_bio/16; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=etdb_bio
• Institution: De La Salle University

COVID-19 has created one of the most catastrophic crises in the 21st century worldwide. The pandemic has resulted to many deaths and has posed an overwhelming public health problem to most countries including the Philippines. Given the rapid spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the most urbanized cities in the country, this study investigated the influence of COVID-19 mortality on the age-specific life expectancy between sexes in National Capital Region (NCR). Using DOH’s COVID-19 Tracker Data Drop, records for 9,784 deaths in NCR from March 14, 2020 until September 30, 2021 were obtained. Analysis of the demographic patterns of the recorded deaths show that 50.4% of deaths belong to the older members of the population (the 60-64, 65-69, 70-74, 75-79 age groups) with the 70-74 age group suffering 14.3% of the total deaths. In addition, 58.2% of deaths were males. These results are possibly due to the immune system becoming weaker as people age, and that females generally have a better immune system than males. It was shown through life table analysis that COVID-19 deaths led to a decline in life expectancy to 63.0 years in NCR, compared to the country’s life expectancy of 70.4 in 2019. Females have higher life expectancies than males (64.6 years versus 61.9 years). There is an average of a 3-year gap in life expectancies in all age groups. Thus, as COVID-19 still persists in Philippine society, those who have more vulnerable immune systems have higher risks for mortality and the age-specific life expectancy may continue to decline.