During the COVID-19 pandemic, working-age Americans were dying of non-COVID-19 causes at a rate about 25 percent above what would have been expected based on previous trends, a recent research paper shows.
About 108,000 Americans aged 18–64 died of causes other than COVID-19 in excess of expected trends during the pandemic, say the Dec. 15 paper published in Inquiry: The Journal of Health Care Organization, Provision, and Financing.
Major causes of the excess deaths included drug poisoning (almost 21,000 deaths), circulatory diseases (over 19,000 deaths), deaths by alcohol or alcohol-induced illnesses (almost 17,000), and illnesses related to diabetes and obesity (more than 10,000). Murders and traffic accidents caused over 8,000 excess deaths each….