Life expectancy rebounded from COVID dip, but drug deaths hit high

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Life expectancy took a hit during COVID-19, but rebounded some in 2022, at the same time that infant deaths rose and drug overdose deaths reached new highs, according to the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

Life expectancy for a baby born in 2022 was 77.5 years, marking a slight longevity boost after deaths from COVID-19 drove the number down. In 2021, life expectancy was 76.4 years overall. That was the lowest life expectancy since 1996.

The life expectancy numbers come from a new National Center for Health Statistics mortality report for 2022, released Thursday. It is the most recent year for which data is available.

But as NPR reported, "Despite the improvement, U.S. life expectancy remains below its peak of 78.9 years reached in 2014. It also lags behind other comparable countries. Final data compiled by CDC shows two public health crises, the COVID pandemic and overdoses caused by illicit street drugs, are still exacting a deadly toll."

On average, someone who was age 65 in 2022 had a life expectancy of 18.9 more years, which is a six-month increase over the previous year. The difference in longevity for older men and older women at that age was 2.7 years, the same as 2021. Men at 65 could expect 17.5 more years on average, compared to 20.2 years for women. So the longevity gap between men and women closed ever-so-slightly to 5.4 years, a decrease of 0.4 years from 2021.

In 2022, 3.28 million U.S. residents died — about 184,000 fewer than in 2021.

Top 10 causes of death

The report said far fewer people died of COVID-19 in 2022 than in 2021 — 416,893 deaths in 2021 down to 186,552 in 2022. That is a 57.3% drop for COVID-19, which made it now the fourth-leading cause of death. Meanwhile, the number of fatal drug overdoses rose to a new high of 107,941.

"Overall, the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths nearly quadrupled from 8.2 in 2002 to 32.6 in 2022," a separate CDC report released this week said.

The report noted that the age-adjusted death rates for eight other top 10 causes of death fell between 2021 and 2022. Those include heart disease (down 3.8%), cancer (down 2.9%), unintentional injuries (down 1.1%), stroke (down 3.9%), chronic lower respiratory disease (down 1.2%), Alzheimer's disease (down 6.8%), diabetes (down 5.1%), and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis (down 4.8%).

The exception was deaths from kidney disease, which is the ninth-leading killer on the list, just ahead of liver disease. Those deaths increased 1.5%.

In 2022, 20,553 U.S. children who had not reached their first birthday died, an increase of 633 or 3.1% from 2021. Just shy of two-thirds died from one of the 10 leading causes of infant death: congenital malformations, low birth weight, sudden infant death syndrome, unintentional injuries, maternal complications, cord and placental complications, bacterial sepsis, respiratory distress, intrauterine hypoxia and birth asphyxia (one category), and diseases of the circulatory system.

Drug deaths

The new drug overdose deaths report found the rate pretty stable between 2021 and 2022. Drug overdose deaths dropped for those ages 15-34, but increased among those 35 and older.

The report said that the death rates from overdoses increased in all racial and Hispanic-origin groups except Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander non-Hispanics and among white non-Hispanics.

Per that report, "Drug overdoses are one of the leading causes of injury death in adults and have risen over the past several decades in the United States. Overdoses involving synthetic opioids (fentanyl, for example) and stimulants (cocaine and methamphetamine, for example) have also risen in the past few years."

The overdose death rate for males increased between 2021 and 2022, but the decrease for females was not significant. In both years, the overdose death rates were highest for American Indian and Alaska Native people, while Asian people had the lowest overdose death rates.