Risk of mortality in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern 202012/1: matched cohort study
Robert Challen, Ellen Brooks‐Pollock, Jonathan M. Read, Louise Dyson, Krasimira Tsaneva‐Atanasova, León Danon
BMJ
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To establish whether there is any change in mortality from infection with a new variant of SARS-CoV-2, designated a variant of concern (VOC-202012/1) in December 2020, compared with circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. DESIGN: Matched cohort study. SETTING: Community based (pillar 2) covid-19 testing centres in the UK using the TaqPath assay (a proxy measure of VOC-202012/1 infection). PARTICIPANTS: 54 906 matched pairs of participants who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 in pillar 2 between 1 October 2020 and 29 January 2021, followed-up until 12 February 2021. Participants were matched on age, sex, ethnicity, index of multiple deprivation, lower tier local authority region, and sample date of positive specimens, and differed only by detectability of the spike protein gene using the