COVID-19 falls to No. 10 cause of death in US

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U.S. death rates fell last year for all age groups compared with 2022, federal health officials said Thursday.

Here's what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data showed:

— COVID-19 fell to the 10th leading cause of death. Early in the pandemic, the coronavirus was the nation’s third leading cause of death. It dropped to fourth in 2022.

— The leading causes of death were heart disease, cancer and a category of injuries that includes gun deaths and drug overdoses.

— There were nearly 3.1 million deaths last year in the U.S., down from 3.3 million in 2022. For many years before the pandemic, deaths usually rose year-to-year, in part because the nation’s population grows. COVID-19 accelerated that trend, making 2021 the deadliest in U.S. history at 3.4 million deaths. But the number dropped in 2022 as the pandemic ebbed.

— Death rates by race and ethnicity were down for all groups, though disparities remain. Because certain populations are younger or older than others, scientists use age-adjusted death rates to compare groups. These age-adjusted death rates were lowest among multiracial people and Asian Americans , and highest among Black people.

The CDC provisional data is based on death certificate information collected so far. Final data is expected later this year.

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