Three years of COVID-19 pandemic: comparative analysis of incidence, lethality and mortality among the States of the South Region of Brazil

Introduction: in Brazil, the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed on February 26, 2020 As of March 17, 2023, the Ministry of Health recorded 699,634 deaths from COVID-19, with a fatality rate of 1.9%. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil in socioeconomic and health system spheres and a reflection of major regional differences. Objective: to analyze mortality, incidence and lethality due to COVID-19 in the states of Paraná and Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Methods: this is an ecological time series study using official Brazilian secondary data for cases and deaths from COVID-19. The data were extracted from the panel of the State Department of Health of the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. For trend analysis, time series were developed using the Prais-Winsten regression model. Statistical analyzes were performed using STATA 14.0 software (College Station, TX, USA, 2013). Results: in the analysis of rates in the total period analyzed, the trends for mortality, lethality and incidence in the state of Santa Catarina are decreasing, decreasing and stationary, respectively. In the state of Paraná, rates in the total period showed a stationary, decreasing and increasing trend for mortality, lethality and incidence, respectively. Conclusion: COVID-19 had a devastating effect on the states of Santa Catarina and Paraná. Both states suffered from the progress of the COVID-19 pandemic, with higher lethality and mortality rates being observed in the state of Paraná, while Santa Catarina had a higher incidence rate over the three years it was in effect. COVID-19 pandemic.