Introduction:

Uruguay had the highest cumulative rate of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the Americas and a mid-range position concerning mortality. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on fatality rates across different socioeconomic sectors has been generally underexplored.

Objective:

To compare mortality, fatality, and SARS-CoV-2 infection cases in the two subsectors of the healthcare system during 2020, 2021, and 2022 in Uruguay.

Materials and methods:

Data on the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and deaths in Uruguay from 2020 to 2022, disaggregated by public and private healthcare subsectors, were requested from the Ministry of Public Health. Cumulative incidence, mortality, and fatality rates were calculated for each subsector by year.

Results:

During the analyzed years, annual cumulative incidence rates of COVID-19 in the public subsector were significantly lower compared to the private subsector. Regarding fatality, the proportion was significantly higher in the public subsector than in the private subsector across all years. Global analyses of the main risk factors for severe and fatal infections do not clearly show differences between the subsectors.

Conclusions:

From a rights-based perspective, unequal outcomes between the two subsectors represent a potential socio-health inequity. However, specific studies analyzing key healthcare variables in both subsectors are needed to confirm this inequity.

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