Diseases of the heart and veins claimed more lives over the past several years among American aged 25 to 44 than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Even with the pandemic waning, such deaths remained elevated.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, deaths caused by circulatory diseases increased by about 15 percent in the 25–44 age group compared to the year before, according to death certificate data collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In 2021, such deaths increased by more than 20 percent compared to 2019.
That means nearly 6,500 excess deaths.
It appears the increase may have been caused by multiple factors.
COVID-19 sometimes causes complications in the circulatory system. It’s likely some deaths, especially early on in the pandemic, were caused by COVID-19, but were misclassified on the death certificate….