Deaths in Colorado dropped in 2022 but not to pre-pandemic levels

Deaths in Colorado in 2022 dropped from the high point set a year earlier, but still haven’t returned to pre-pandemic levels.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment reported 46,751 people died in 2022, down from 48,284 in 2021. In comparison, 39,318 people died in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year.

The improvement was largely due to fewer people dying of COVID-19 than in 2021. Deaths from the virus dropped by more than 3,000, but were partially offset by more people dying of heart disease; cancer; influenza and pneumonia; chronic lower respiratory diseases, such as emphysema; and transportation accidents.

Colorado and the rest of the country may still be seeing some effects from the pandemic, when people delayed care and adopted less-healthy lifestyles, said David Rojas-Rueda, an assistant professor at the Colorado School of Public Health and Colorado State University. It’s also worth noting that some growth in deaths from causes like heart disease is expected, as the population grows and ages, he said.

“Next year, things, I hope, will improve,” he said.

The picture may be brighter after adjusting for changes in the population, though that won’t be certain until the Colorado State Demography Office releases its 2022 numbers later this summer. Based on the preliminary estimates, death rates for heart disease, cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases and suicide appeared to be lower than in 2019.

Overdose deaths remained well above pre-pandemic levels, though they dropped from their 2021 high point. That trend appeared to persist even after adjusting for population growth and aging.

Nationwide, the number of deaths also dropped in 2022, though it remained above pre-pandemic levels, according to preliminary data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. As in Colorado, a reduction in deaths from COVID-19 was the biggest factor, though deaths in accidents also decreased for the country as a whole. Overdose deaths appeared to be leveling out in 2022, though that was driven by decreases in only eight states.

It’s not clear yet if life expectancy started to rebound in 2022. In most wealthy countries, it dropped in 2020, but regained that ground in 2021. In the United States, life expectancy continued to fall in the second year of the pandemic.