Covid-19 falls off list of top 10 causes of death in U.S.

Covid-19 fell out of the top 10 causes of death in the United States in 2024, according to new data released Wednesday, and the estimated overall mortality rate declined to its lowest level since 2020. Suicide took Covid’s place on the list. Advertisement Heart disease and cancer still rank as the first and second cause of death, with numbers that rose above last year’s mark for each disease. Unintentional injury, with more than a half-million fewer deaths than the leading causes, had the third-highest mortality rate. While overall death rates decreased for all race and ethnicity groups, rates for Black people continue to be the highest. The gap between men and women also persists: The age-adjusted death rate per 100,000 people was 844.8 for males and 613.5 for females. “Heart disease is still number one, and it’s definitely not going in the right direction,” Eric Topol, founder and director of Scripps Research in San Diego, told STAT. And lest we forget, “there are many thousands of people dying of Covid still.” Advertisement Deaths from heart disease rose in 2024 (683,037) compared with 2023 (680,981); deaths from cancer in 2024 (619,812) climbed from 2023 (613,352). Stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, kidney disease, and chronic liver disease and cirrhosis followed, in descending order. Topol called four of the six — heart disease, cancer, stroke, and even Alzheimer’s — avoidable. “These numbers are not encouraging,” he said. “We’re talking about diseases that are eminently preventable, just with lifestyle factors, but we have 75% of the population that doesn’t do even the minimum requirement of exercise.” The U.S. numbers, compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics, do not compare well to other countries when it comes to health outcomes, life expectancy, infant mortality, and maternal mortality, among other measures. Investment in public health for chronic diseases lags behind the need, Topol noted, while fee-for-service health care is more reactive than preventive. “The reduction of research support isn’t going to help matters,” he said. “It’s the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Where is the prevention?” Topol has turned his research attention to developing polygenic scores that assess an individual’s specific disease risk in the hope of selecting the right prevention and improving longevity. He’ll start a prospective trial soon on the prevention of Alzheimer’s, but “if we had enough funding, we’d do one for cardiovascular and cancer,” he said. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. For TTY users: Use your preferred relay service or dial 711 then 988.