Life expectancy increased from 2021 to reach 77.5 years in 2022

Life expectancy increased to 77.5 years in 2022, while the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths increased from 2002 to 2022 but did not change from 2021 to 2022, according to two March data briefs published by the National Center for Health Statistics.

Kenneth D. Kochanek, from the National Center for Health Statistics in Hyattsville, Maryland, and colleagues used data from the National Vital Statistics System to examine mortality patterns among U.S. residents. The researchers found that in 2022, life expectancy for the U.S. population was 77.5 years, which represented an increase of 1.1 years from 2021.

From 2021 to 2022, there was a 9.2 percent decrease in the age-adjusted death rate, from 879.7 to 798.8 deaths per 100,000 standard population. For age groups 1 to 4 and 5 to 14 years, age-specific death rates increased from 2021 to 2022, while they decreased for all age groups 15 years and older.

Merianne R. Spencer, M.P.H., also from the National Center for Health Statistics, and colleagues used data from the National Vital Statistics System to examine the rates of drug overdose deaths during a 20-year period, focusing on changes from 2021 to 2022.

The researchers found that from 2002 to 2022, there was an increase in the age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths from 8.2 to 32.6, but no significant change was seen between 2021 and 2022. The rates decreased and increased between 2021 and 2022 for those ages 15 to 34 years and 35 years and older, respectively.

"From 2019 to 2020, the drug overdose death rate increased 31.0 percent from 21.6 to 28.3, which was the largest annual increase over the period 2002 to 2022," Spencer and colleagues write.

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