What price is London paying for Covid-19? High, according to Didier Raoult, who affirms in the prologue of his book Beyond the chloroquine case* that the British capital “has had the biggest drop in life expectancy in the world” because of the coronavirus.
The Marseille professor specifies his thoughts in Chapter XII: “It is notable that the place where mortality was the most important and the drop in life expectancy the most significant is London, which was the cradle of our new civilization in 19th century, and where the drop in life expectancy was three and a half years in 2020. “Didier Raoult continues:” Of course, hydroxychloroquine was not prescribed there. “
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The figure put forward by Didier Raoult does not concern all Londoners: the drop of 3.3 years, calculated by Public Health England (an agency under the Ministry of Health), affects the most disadvantaged men. Their life expectancy at birth fell from 77.9 years in 2019 to 74.6 years in 2020. The life expectancy at birth of the most advantaged men has decreased by a year and a half, by 84.5 to 83 years old.
On average, the life expectancy of men in England has fallen by 1.3 years for men, and nine months for women, said the British agency.
This life expectancy is valid at birth, that is to say for babies born in 2020. It is based on the assumption that the death rate remains the same throughout the life of this child. However, this figure may change, 2020 having been a year marked by the pandemic, recalls the British Bureau of Statistics. The organization stresses that “it will take several years before understanding the possible impact of the coronavirus” on life expectancy.
Do these figures make the British capital the place that has experienced “the most significant decline”, as Didier Raoult writes? In the United States, male life expectancy at birth is also declining in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to calculations by the CDC, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control. Hispanic men lost the most life expectancy at birth, at 3.7 years. On average, American men lost 1.8 years of life expectancy and women, 1.2 years.
What are the factors that caused these declines? Is it because in London, “hydroxychloroquine was not prescribed there”, as the professor suggests? A group of British researchers looked at mortality linked to Covid-19: they point out that socio-economic conditions (housing conditions, type of work, etc.), as well as old age or certain co-morbid factors (obesity, etc.) ), increase the risk of mortality.
* Beyond the chloroquine case, published on October 14 by editions Michel Lafon.