CDC: Chronic lower respiratory diseases rank sixth on 2022 top causes of death
Key takeaways:
- Diseases of the heart topped the 2022 list, and chronic lower respiratory diseases occupied the sixth spot.
- In five of six age groups, chronic lower respiratory disease was one of the 10 leading causes of death.
In 2022, chronic lower respiratory disease was the sixth highest cause of death in the U.S., according to results published in National Vital Statistics Reports.
Using 2022 death certificate data from the 50 U.S. states and District of Columbia, Sally C. Curtin, MA, statistician at the CDC, and colleagues evaluated causes of death to determine the most reported causes.
Diseases of the heart topped the 2022 list, and chronic lower respiratory diseases occupied the sixth spot. Notably, the report included bronchitis, emphysema, asthma and “other chronic lower respiratory diseases” in this classification.
Compared with 2021 U.S. death certificate data, the report highlighted a 3.5% rise in the number of deaths due to chronic lower respiratory diseases in 2022.
When researchers broke down deaths from chronic lower respiratory diseases by sex, females had a greater burden of deaths vs. males (5% vs. 4%), but for both sexes, this cause of death held the sixth spot.
The report also split up the deceased into six age groups: 1 to 9 years; 10 to 24 years; 25 to 44 years; 45 to 64 years; 65 years and older; and 85 years and older. In five age groups, chronic lower respiratory disease was one of the 10 leading causes of death. It ranked tenth in the 1-to-9-year group, ninth in the 10-to-24-year group, seventh in the 45-to-64-year group, fifth in the 65 and older group and sixth in the 85 year and older group.
Of the five non-Hispanic racial groups, researchers observed the highest rank of chronic lower respiratory disease deaths among white individuals (fifth leading cause; 5.2% of total deaths). Notably, this cause was found in the top 10 leading causes of death in the remaining four racial groups: American Indian and Alaska Native (seventh; 3.2% of total deaths), Black (eighth; 2.7% of total deaths), Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (eighth; 2.4% of total deaths) and Asian (10th; 2% of total deaths).
Among Hispanic individuals, death due to a chronic lower respiratory disease was ninth on the list of leading causes (2% of total deaths), according to the report.
Additionally, researchers assessed causes of infant death in this year and reported respiratory distress of newborn as the eighth leading cause.
“Cause-of-death ranking is a standard method of presenting mortality statistics and is a useful tool for illustrating the relative burden of cause-specific mortality, but it must be used cautiously with a clear understanding of the limitations underlying the method,” Curtin and colleagues wrote.
Reference:
- COPD is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. https://www.copdfoundation.org/About-Us/Press-Room/Press-Releases/Article/2104/COPD-is-the-sixth-leading-cause-of-death-in-the-United-States.aspx. Published Jan. 21, 2025. Accessed Jan. 21, 2025.
Perspective
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This latest report from the National Vital Statistics System looks very much like many that have come before it. Heart disease remains in its traditional position atop the “leaderboard,” with longtime companions such as cancer, diabetes and various chronic diseases still filling out the top 10. On its face, the report contains few surprises for anyone in health care. However, I submit that the true value of these reports is not the topline numbers, but the deeper context of the subgroup analyses found within the report, not to mention looking at the trends revealed over time. The data regarding chronic lower respiratory diseases are an excellent example of that.
Diving more deeply into demographics, curiosities appear. Chronic lower respiratory disease is the fifth-leading cause of death for white Americans, and 10th for those of Asian descent. This actually makes sense, as one of the biggest risk factors for chronic lower respiratory disease is smoking tobacco and Asian-Americans have the lowest rates of current cigarette smoking in the country. However, every other ethnicity listed in the report also had a lower death rate from chronic lower respiratory disease. This includes the group with the highest rate of cigarette smoking, Americans of Hispanic descent. What could account for this? For starters, the Hispanic community has the highest rate of uninsured people in the country. Studies suggest they are also the population least likely to have a primary care provider, and that they represent approximately 20% of all Americans who live in a “pulmonology desert” (that is, at least 1 hour away from a pulmonologist). It’s awfully tough for someone to get a diagnosis if they are unable to access care, and their death would more likely be attributed to an acute cause than a previously undiagnosed chronic condition.
Ethnicity is, of course, not the only way to compare populations. The report also helpfully breaks down causes of death by sex at birth. Here again, looking beyond the topline gives us important context. Chronic lower respiratory disease is listed as the sixth-leading cause of death for both males and females. However, it accounts for 5% of female deaths, compared with 4% of male deaths. Again, we have to ask ourselves why this could be.
A common stereotype is that males are more likely to endure accidental trauma, and this is certainly suggested by the significantly higher percentage of deaths due to unintentional injury compared with females (8.8% vs. 4.8%). However, we also see several other conditions that appear to affect females to a larger degree, including stroke and Alzheimer’s disease. It seems clear that additional research is essential to understanding these differences.
I encourage everyone to look beyond the toplines and examine the underlying context, regardless of disease state. The overall numbers get all the attention, but they only tell us the “what.” The rest of the data point the way to discovering the “why.”
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