Deaths of young men have fallen during lockdown, Cambridge study shows

New analysis by Cambridge University suggests mortality rates of young men have fallen dramatically during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Five-year averages show that death rates for males aged 20-to-24 have dropped by 30 per cent in England and Wales since the first week of restrictions.

Usually there would have been 121 deaths of that age group in the same time period but it has fallen to just 85. If the 12 deaths from coronavirus are discounted then the drop is even lower, just 73 deaths, or a 40 per cent reduction.

Mortality rates across the population rise steadily with age, but there is normally a significant spike for younger men.

Coronavirus has smoothed out the curve, probably because fewer young men have been dying in car accidents or from alcohol-related or risk-taking incidents.

Lockdown means there are fewer drivers on the roads and bars, pubs and clubs have been shut since the end of March. Doctors have reported far fewer admissions to Accident and Emergency units.

Prof Sir David Spiegelhalter, of the University of Cambridge, said: “Young men are significantly less likely to die over the epidemic.

“We normally expect a blip or a hump for young men aged 20 to 24 which is due to essentially risk-taking behaviour.

“That has disappeared completely during lockdown.

"There has been 30 per cent reduction in young men aged 20 to 24.

“We need to see how much of this is road accidents, how much of this is other accidents. When we get more detailed pools of data we will be able to see why that is but I think we can guess.

“We can see that one group has in a sense benefited during this period.”