COVID-19: 4th Major Cause of Death Among Americans
Among Americans in 2022, COVID-19 was found to be the fourth leading cause of death, according to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
More than 3.2 million persons died in the US during January to December 2022.
Heart disease (699,659) remained the top reason for death, followed by cancer (607,790), unintentional injuries (218,064) -- which includes drug overdoses and car accidents -- and COVID-19 (186,702).
Top Reasons of Death Among Americans
However, the death rate in 2022 decreased by 5.3 percent, from 879.7 per 100,000 persons in 2021 to 832.8.‘In the United States, COVID-19 was the main cause for 5.7 percent of all deaths in 2022, shrinking from 12 percent in 2021.’
Overall, COVID-19-associated death rate among males (76.3) was higher compared with that among females (49.8).
It also decreased from 2021 to 2022 among groups more than 15 years of age, while the rate increased for all age groups under 15 years. However, the CDC has not given the reason behind this.
Rise in heart disease cases may be due to COVID-19, as several studies have pointed out the increased risk for cardiovascular diseases for at least a year after recovery.
"The death rate went down by a lot, but we also want to emphasize we're not out of the woods here," Dr. Robert Anderson, the chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, was quoted as saying by the New York Times.
"There are still a lot of people who died, and we're still seeing deaths in 2023 as well," Anderson added.
Source: IANS