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

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.