COVID-19 as the third leading cause of death in the U.S. in 2021, according to provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The data shows the overall age-adjusted death rate for all causes in the U.S. was about 1% higher in 2021 than in 2020 while the death rate from COVID-19 increased by nearly 20%. The information was published in Friday’s CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report and reported by CNN.
Heart disease was the leading cause of death in 2021, followed by cancer then COVID-19. Other leading causes were unintentional injuries; stroke; chronic lower respiratory disease; Alzheimer disease; diabetes; chronic liver disease and cirrhosis; and kidney disease.
Roughly 605,000 Americans died from cancer last year and 693,000 from heart disease. COVID was listed as a “underlying or contributing cause of death” for 415,000 people. Cancer, heart disease and COVID were listed as the most common causes of death in 2020 as well.
More than one in eight deaths in 2021 listed COVID-19 as an underlying cause, up from about one in 10 deaths in 2020, the CDC report showed. Death rates were lowest among people ages 1-4 and 5-14 an highest among those ages 85 and older.
