Australians reside longer as a result of lockdowns

Pandemic restrictions have led to longer life expectancy for Australians, a brand new examine from The Australian Nationwide College (ANU) has discovered.

A silver lining to seemingly infinite days in lockdown is that Australians’ life expectancy jumped in 2020. As a substitute of the anticipated common annual enhance in longevity of 0.09–0.14 years seen from 2015 to 2019, researchers discovered a rise of 0.7 years from 2019 to 2020 for each females and males. This was the best enhance of all of the international locations checked out within the examine, revealed within the Worldwide Journal of Epidemiology.

The international locations with the subsequent highest will increase had been Denmark and Norway, each with 0.1 and 0.2 years for females and males respectively.

In distinction, the USA has seen a lower in life expectancy, with losses of -1.7 and -2.2 years for females and males respectively.

The researchers say Australia’s fast response to the COVID-19 pandemic, together with closing borders and implementing lockdowns, was what differentiated Australia’s longevity consequence from the USA.

“Australia was in a singular place to have the ability to shut borders to the remainder of the world. Now with the sturdy compliance on vaccinations, we’re prone to be one of many most secure locations on this planet,” examine co-author Professor Vladimir Canudas-Romo stated.

“Through the 1918 Spanish flu, makes an attempt had been made to shut borders. But, as soon as ports opened, the shortage of a vaccination meant the virus unfold with deadly results. With modern-day vaccines, Australia has been in a position to escape this lethal destiny.”

The researchers say lockdowns led to longer lives due to a “sharp decline within the unfold of different infectious illnesses as a result of COVID-19 containment measures.”

For instance, there was a 20 % fall in deaths attributable to pneumonia or influenza throughout Australia’s lockdowns.

There was additionally an impact on non-infectious illnesses, Professor Canudas-Romo stated.

“This features a discount in deaths as a result of most cancers and cardiovascular illnesses, equivalent to coronary heart assaults and strokes, which accounted for an amazing share of the mortality reductions,” he stated.

One other key discovering within the examine was {that a} decline in social mobility triggered a big discount within the variety of highway visitors accidents.

In line with examine co-author Affiliate Professor Brian Houle the query stays whether or not this elevated life expectancy will proceed in a post-pandemic Australia.

“It is arduous to make a long-term evaluation for this uncommon enhance,” he stated.

“If working from house stays common, with fewer individuals on the highway commuting at peak occasions, that may lead to lowered highway accidents in comparison with earlier than the COVID-19 pandemic.”