The reduction was caused by reduction in the burden of non-COVID lower respiratory infections, likely due to social distancing and other disease control measures in place during the COVID-19 pandemic

The decline in antimicrobial resistance infections (AMR) related deaths in 2021 was likely due to COVID-19 measures that reduced non-COVID respiratory infections, says a study published in The Lancet. 

The direct AMR deaths dropped from 1.27 million in 2019 to 1.14 million in 2021 and broader deaths linked to AMR fell from 4.95 million to 4.71 million. The reduction was caused by reduction in the burden of non-COVID lower respiratory infections, likely due to social distancing and other disease control measures in place during the COVID-19 pandemic, the study concluded.

The decline coincided with major improvements in the delivery of infection prevention and control measures – such as vaccination programmes – among infants and young children. 

The new study by the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance (GRAM) Project is the first global analysis of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) trends over time. 

In 1990, there were 1.06 million deaths directly due to antibiotic-resistant infections out of the 4.78 million deaths linked to infections where resistance to antibiotics was one of the factors.  

The study found that over the three decades, trends in AMR deaths underwent a major age-related shift: Deaths among children under five years old decreased by more than 50%, with direct deaths falling from 488,000 to 193,000 (59.8%), and those linked to AMR dropping from 2.29 million to 840,00 (62.9%). 

Over the same period, AMR deaths among adults 70 years or older increased by more than 80%  with direct deaths increasing to  519,000 (89.7%), and those linked to AMR rising to 2.16 million (81.4%).

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