Leading Causes of US Deaths in the 2022.
Level 4 - case-series / case-control
Descriptive cross-sectional analysis of national vital statistics databases (CDC WONDER and WISQARS).
PubMed 39685544 · doi:10.3390/jcm13237088
What was done
Researchers analyzed definitive 2022 mortality data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) and CDC Wide-Ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER) databases to identify leading causes of death overall and stratified by age and sex.
What was found
Heart disease was the leading cause of death overall (26.2% of all deaths), followed by malignant neoplasms (22.7%), unintentional injuries (8.5%), and COVID-19 (6.9%). Heart disease and cancer ranked first and second in both sexes. Unintentional injuries were the third leading cause in men (10.5%), whereas stroke was the third leading cause in women (7.5%). COVID-19 remained the fourth leading cause in both men (7.1%) and women (6.8%). Unintentional injuries were the single leading cause of death for ages 15–44 years in both sexes before plateauing and rising again at age 65 or older.
Why it matters
This study provides definitive national benchmark data on US cause-specific mortality post-peak pandemic, highlighting that the majority of deaths remain driven by preventable cardiovascular, oncologic, and injury-related causes.
Limits
The abstract does not report the total absolute number of deaths analyzed. As a descriptive registry analysis based on CDC death certificate data, it is subject to standard certification and coding errors, misattribution of primary cause of death, and lacks individual-level clinical or socioeconomic risk factor data.
Cited by
- supports Breast cancer accounts for 3% of deaths in women, all cancers combined account for 20% to 21%, and cardiac disease accounts for 22% to 23%.