COVID CAUSED MORE THAN 12 THOUSAND SUDDEN DEATHS IN BRAZIL IN ITS FIRST YEAR: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL, OBSERVATIONAL AND DESCRIPTIVE TIME SERIES STUDY AND COUNTERFACTUAL ANALYSIS

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused several health problems, with high morbidity and mortality and, in some cases, serious conditions. Emergency measures were taken to contain the spread of the disease, including the production and release of vaccines to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Among the public health problems associated with COVID, this study focuses on the sudden increase in sudden deaths (SCD) in Brazil. In addition to the bibliographical research regarding the formulated hypothesis, we carried out an epidemiological, observational, descriptive, time series and counterfactual analysis study, with the aim of demonstrating the formulated hypothesis with observational data. We demonstrate that according to data from 13 years (156 months) in Brazil between 2010 and the end of 2022 regarding sudden deaths, we observed a significant increase in the average monthly SCD (IC96 DATASUS) of 176.60 (SD: 38.78; 95%CI:169.65-183.55) monthly deaths in the ten years before the pandemic, between January 2010 and February 2020, for an average of 555 monthly deaths (SD: 75.4; 95%CI:528.7 -581.3) in the first three years of the pandemic, with an excess of 12,866 deaths in relation to the previous average (95% CI: 13950.6-11782.2; p<0.001).