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Objective The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic goes beyond morbidity and mortality from that disease. Increases in maternal mortality have also been described but have not been extensively studied to date. This study aimed to examine changes in maternal mortality and identify correlates and predictors of excess maternal mortality in Colombia during the pandemic.Setting Analysis of data from the national epidemiological surveillance databases of Colombia (Sivigila).Participants Deaths among 6342 Colombian pregnant women who experienced complications associated with pregnancy, childbirth or the perperium during 2008–2020 were included in this study. For inequalities analysis, a subsample of 1055 women from this group who died in 2019 or 2020 years were analysed.Methods We collected data from the national surveillance system (Sivigila) on maternal mortality. Analysis was carried out in two stages, starting with a time series modelling using the Box-Jenkins approach. Data from Sivigila for 2008–2019 were used to establish a baseline of expected mortality levels. Both simple and complex inequality metrics, with the maternal mortality ratios (MMRs), were then calculated using the Multidimensional Poverty Index as a socioeconomic proxy.Results Maternal deaths in 2020 were 12.6% (95% CI −21.4% to 95.7%) higher than expected. These excess deaths were statistically significant in elevation for the months of July (97.4%, 95% CI 35.1% to 250.0%) and August (87.8%, 95% CI 30.5% to 220.8%). The MMR was nearly three times higher in the poorest municipalities compared with the most affluent communities in 2020.Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic had considerable impact on maternal health, not only by leading to increased deaths, but also by increasing social health inequity. Barriers to access and usage of essential health services are a challenge to achieving health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

Objective To explore the existence and trends of social inequalities related to pneumonia mortality in Colombian adults using educational level as a proxy of socioeconomic status.Methods We obtained individual and anonymised registries from death certificates due to pneumonia for 1998–2015. Educational level data were gathered from microdata of the Colombian Demography Health Surveys. Rate ratios (RR) were estimated by using Poisson regression models, comparing mortality of educational groups with mortality in the highest education group. Relative index of inequality (RII) was measured to assess changes in disparities, regressing mortality on the midpoint of the cumulative distribution of education, thereby considering the size of each educational group.Results For adults 25+ years, the risk of dying was significantly higher among lower educated. The RRs depict increased risks of dying comparing lower and highest education level, and this tendency was stronger in woman than in men (RR for primary education=2.34 (95% CI 2.32 to 2.36), RR for secondary education=1.77 (95% CI 1.75 to 1.78) versus RR for primary education=1.83 (95% CI 1.81 to 1.85), RR for secondary education=1.51 (95% CI 1.50 to 1.53)). According to age groups, young adults (25–44 years) showed the largest inequality in terms of educational level; RRs for pneumonia mortality regarding the tertiary educated groups show increased mortality in the lower and secondary educated, and these differences decreased with ages. RII in pneumonia mortality among adult men was 2.01 (95% CI 2.00 to 2.03) and in women 2.46 (95% CI 2.43 to 2.48). The RII was greatest at young ages, for both sexes. Time trends showed steadily significant increases for RII in both men and women (estimated annual percentage change (EAPC)men=3.8; EAPCwomen=2.6).Conclusion A significant increase on the educational inequalities in mortality due to pneumonia during all period was found among men and women. Efforts to reduce pneumonia mortality in adults improving population health by raising education levels should be strengthened with policies that assure widespread access to economic and social opportunities.