What is life expectancy in the United States? Did COVID drop it?

In 2020, COVID-19 joined the fairly stable list of major causes of death in the United States, ranking third after heart disease and cancer. The pandemic also contributed significantly to the reduced life expectancy compared to 2019.

Life expectancy at birth in 2020 is 77 years across the United States, almost two years shorter than predicted for those born in 2019, according to data released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of the National Center for Health Statistics. rice field. Females are expected to live 5.7 years longer than males, 79.9 vs. 74.2 years. Both of these numbers have decreased compared to the 2019 forecast.

The age-adjusted mortality rate for the entire population has risen from 715.2 per 100,000 in 2019 to 835.4 in 2020. Increases in age-adjusted mortality in ethnic and racial groups ranged from just over 12% to nearly 12% for non-Hispanic white women. 48% of Hispanic men jump.

Overall, age-adjusted mortality was highest among Hispanics, followed by non-Hispanic blacks, twice as high as non-Hispanic whites. Age-adjusted mortality weights the age-specific mortality of each group according to the proportion of each group in the population. The new report points out that age-specific mortality rates increased in each age group over the age of 15 between 2019 and 2020.

Unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic respiratory illness, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza / pneumonia, and kidney disease conclude the top 10 list of major causes of death in the United States in 2020.

Overall, according to the report, the number of resident deaths recorded in the United States in 2020 was 3,383,729, an increase of 528,891 compared to 2019.

The 16.8% increase in age-adjusted mortality for the entire population was the largest one-year increase since data collection began, and the decrease in life expectancy was the largest one-year decrease in more than 75 years.

COVID-19 Toll

As of December 20, 2021, there were 804,046 deaths from COVID-19 on the death certificate. In 90% of cases CDC reported, COVID-19 was listed as the underlying cause of death, but others have listed it as the cause of death. Reportedly, the maximum number of COVID-19 deaths reported per week was in early January 2021, when 25,984 people died from the pandemic.

COVID-19 changed the trajectory that tended to extend its life. one year ago, Final data on death in 2019 Compared to 2018, life expectancy has increased for the second consecutive year, “despite the record high of 2.85 million deaths from drug overdose in the United States.”

John Minchillo, Associated Press

Drug overdose and murder

The CDC said Deaths from overdose of the drug accounted for more than one-third of all accidental deaths in the country, decreasing in 2018 for the first time in 28 years and then increasing in 2019.

2020 also brought about other death-related challenges. In July, the CDC reported a 30% increase in deaths from drug overdose compared to the previous year. And in October, officials reported that 2020 had “the largest year-long increase in US homicide rates.”

According to preliminary data, the homicide rate in the United States in 2020 was 7.8 per 100,000, the highest since 1995, compared to 6.0 in the previous year. “But significantly lower than the murders of more than 10 per 100,000 in the early 1980s.”

Infant death

According to a new report, 19,582 children under the age of one will die in 2020, 1,339 fewer than in 2019.

The main causes of death for infants were the same as in 2019: congenital malformations, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, unintended injuries, maternal complications, umbilical cord and placental complications, bacterial septicemia, dyspnea, circulation. Diseases of the system and neonatal bleeding.

Sudden infant death syndrome increased statistically significantly from 33.3 to 38.4 per 100,000 live births in 2019 compared to 2020. Low birth weight was the only category in which sudden infant death syndrome was significantly reduced from 91.9 to 86.9 per 100,000.

CDC Interactive web dashboard The leading cause of death is updated regularly.