Heart Disease, Cancer and COVID Were Leading Causes of Death in 2021 as Life Expectancy Declines
An increase in drug overdoses, deaths from liver disease and COVID-19 were contributors to shorter life spans compared to the year before, according to a CDC report.
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The US life expectancy decreased for the second year in a row, and Americans on average can now expect to live to age 76.4, according to a report released Thursday by the National Center of Health Statistics branch of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The average expectancy was shortened by a little more than half a year (0.6) compared to 2020, when life expectancy dropped nearly two years compared to 2019. Right before the pandemic began, life expectancy was 78.8 years.
Provisional data from earlier this year predicted a slightly more dramatic drop for a life expectancy of 76.1 years.
Heart disease, cancer and COVID-19, in that order, remain the top causes of death in the US. Researchers wrote in their summary of the data that life expectancy has declined mostly from an increase in deaths from COVID-19, unintentional injury (which includes drug overdoses), liver disease and cirrhosis, suicide and homicide.
Disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic are thought to be contributors to a decreasing life span. And not just from the virus, which by itself was the third-leading cause of death last year. Health care providers have been sounding the alarm on missed doctor appointments for managing chronic illnesses such as heart disease (number one cause of death), cancer (second most common cause) and diabetes. For example, people may put off screenings for cancer or blood pressure, or had an important appointment canceled, due to COVID-19-related disruptions to the health care system.
Increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic has also been a worrying trend to many doctors, as heavy alcohol use is one of the main causes of cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver. Liver damage can also be caused by health conditions such as hepatitis. Deaths from liver disease and cirrhosis rose 9% from 2020 to 2021, per the report.
Rising numbers of drug overdoses have also been partly attributed, by some experts, to disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"These data are very tragic but not surprising," Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, told CNN. "The pandemic had a magnifying effect on an already-devastating overdose crisis, and exacerbated many of the stressors in society that make people more vulnerable to taking drugs."
Death rates increased for people of all ages, except children under age 1, according to the report. Comparing 2021 to 2020, the highest increase in death was adults in their mid- to ate 30s and early 40s. However, death rates for Hispanic and Black men decreased from 2020 to 2021, researchers found, and were unchanged in Asian men and women. Death rates increased for all other race groups and sexes. Women continued to have a longer life expectancy in 2021 (79.3 years) than men (73.5).