Average life expectancy increases for the first time in two years

health

by Adriana Diaz and david randoseru

Well, that's a start.

Life expectancy in the United States will begin to rise from its COVID-19 era low in 2022, reaching 77.5 years after two years of decline, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It jumped up to

But please wait for the applause. The newly released statistics remain among the worst in years, leaving Americans even further behind their developed-world peers.

“Simply put, the fact that life expectancy in 2022 was lower than in 2019 means that even as the pandemic recovers, Americans continue to die at higher rates than before the pandemic. “It means,” said Dr. Stephen Wolfe, director emeritus of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center. He spoke to CNN about society and health.

The all-time high was reached in 2014 at 78.9 years.

Wolf noted that many other so-called rich countries have had more “substantial” recoveries after the pandemic.

“We're not out of the woods yet,” he said.

One particularly sad trend was noted in the new data. That's a sharp increase in child deaths.

The infant mortality rate in 2022 was 560.4 per 100,000 live births, an increase of 3.1% compared to 2021.

The mortality rate for children aged 1 to 4 increased by 12% from 2021 to 2022, and the mortality rate for children aged 5 to 14 increased by 7%.

“This is a red flag about the poor health of Americans and how it is putting our children at risk,” Wolf said. “Although this trend does not account for the decline in life expectancy for the total population that is being driven by adult deaths, it is nonetheless alarming, as our most precious citizens, our children, are reaching adulthood. That means they are less likely to survive.”

Drug overdose is just one of the causes of a significant reduction in life expectancy in this country. In 2022, more people died from fatal overdoses than ever recorded.

“Many factors contribute to the overdose epidemic in the U.S., making it difficult to reverse the upward trend in deaths. “It has become,” he said. public health.

Otherwise, the leading causes of death remain the same as in 2021, with heart disease and cancer each maintaining the top two spots, accounting for two out of five deaths nationwide, although the rankings have changed slightly. .

The age-adjusted death rate from COVID-19 fell by more than half from 2021 to 2022. This is the key to improving the numbers we are currently seeing. The virus will kill more than 186,000 Americans in 2022, about 6% of the total deaths.