2021 to 2022 Saw Decrease in Age-Adjusted Death Rate in U.S.

THURSDAY, May 4, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- There was a decrease in the age-adjusted death rate from 2021 to 2022, as well as a decrease in the COVID-19 mortality rate, according to research published in the May 5 issue of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Farida B. Ahmad, M.P.H., from the CDC in Atlanta, and colleagues provided an overview of U.S. mortality data for 2022, including a comparison with death rates from 2021. The researchers found approximately 3,273,705 deaths in the United States in 2022. The estimated 2022 age-adjusted death rate decreased by 5.3 percent from 2021, from 879.7 to 832.8 deaths per 100,000 persons. In an estimated 7.5 percent of those deaths (244,986 deaths; 61.3 per 100,000), COVID-19 was reported as an underlying or contributing cause. The highest overall death rates were seen for persons aged 85 years and older, non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Natives (AI/AN), non-Hispanic Black or African Americans, and males. Heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, and COVID-19 were the four leading causes of death in 2022.

In a second study, Ahmad and colleagues summarized provisional U.S. COVID-19 death data for 2022. The researchers found that COVID-19 was the underlying (primary) or contributing cause in the chain of events leading to death in 244,986 deaths in the United States. The estimated age-adjusted COVID-19-associated death rate decreased 47 percent during 2021 to 2022, from 115.6 to 61.3 per 100,000 persons. The highest COVID-19 death rates were seen for persons aged 85 years and older, non-Hispanic AI/AN populations, and males. COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause of death in 76 percent of deaths with COVID-19 listed on the death certificate.

"These findings also help to guide public health policies and interventions intended to reduce severe COVID-19 impact by providing insight into groups that remain vulnerable to COVID-19–associated mortality," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text - Mortality Update 2022

Abstract/Full Text - COVID-19 Mortality Update 2022