(FreePressBeacon.com) – In a notable public health development, in 2023, COVID-19 fell dramatically to the tenth position on the list of leading causes of death in the United States.
The coronavirus was recorded on 49,928 death certificates—a significant decrease from the 186,552 deaths in 2022 and the peak of 416,893 in 2021.
Over 3 million fatalities were reported last year to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, with heart disease and cancer remaining the top causes, The New York Post reports.
Fatalities from heart disease saw a marginal rise of 0.4% since 2019, totaling 680,909 deaths in the past year.
Dr. David Majure, who oversees the heart transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, emphasized the critical need for heart disease to be addressed more rigorously.
He advocated for enhancements in diet, regular exercise, and the prevention of diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol.
Following heart disease and cancer, the third leading cause of death is categorized as “unintentional injuries,” which experienced a dramatic 26.3% increase in fatality rates from 2019 to 2023, driven by a surge in fatal drug overdoses.
According to recent CDC data, there were approximately 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the US in 2023—a slight decrease from the previous year, yet marking the third consecutive year with deaths surpassing 100,000.
“The US is facing an unprecedented epidemic of opioid use and related deaths,” Dr. Aimee Chiligiris, a clinical psychologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center.
She highlighted, “A current driver of substance-related overdose deaths is fentanyl,” noting the increased risk due to its potency and the tendency to lace it with other substances.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid up to 50 times stronger than heroin, has been a major crisis in the nation for about a decade.
This opioid is primarily smuggled into the US by Mexican cartels, which manufacture it using chemicals sourced from Communist China.
Recently, China has agreed to impose stricter regulations on these chemicals. Fentanyl is now pervasive across nearly all facets of the illegal drug market, implicated in approximately 75,000 deaths in the US last year alone.
Moreover, stroke has now overtaken COVID-19 as the fourth leading cause of death, with 162,639 fatalities reported in 2023, marking a slight reduction from 2022 but an increase from earlier years.
Another growing concern among researchers is the rise in deaths from chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, which increased by 15.3% from 2019 to 2023, likely exacerbated by increased alcohol consumption during the pandemic.
The data from 2023 remains preliminary, with final statistics to be confirmed later in the year.
Copyright 2024, FreePressBeacon.com
