Cancer, Covid, accidents, suicides… What have been the main causes of mortality in France in recent years? An annual reference study, published Tuesday October 8, provides many answers. Carried out by the Directorate of Research, Studies and Evaluation of Statistics (Dress), the epidemiology center of medical causes of death of Inserm and Public Health France, this analysis details the causes of death of residents and died in France in 2022.
► Cancer, leading cause of death
673,190 people died in France in 2022. A figure higher than 2020 and 2021, two years marked by high mortality linked to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Involved in a quarter of deaths, cancer remains the leading cause of death in 2022, killing slightly more men than women. Tumors of the lung, bronchi and trachea represent 18% of these deaths, far ahead of colorectal cancers (9.9%).
The second cause of death after tumors, cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks or strokes, account for 20.8% of deaths in 2022. These deaths generally concern elderly people. Their number increases slightly among women, while it stabilizes among men.
► A lesser impact of Covid-19
If the two leading causes of mortality, cancers and cardiovascular diseases, have not changed in recent years, in 2022, “diseases of the respiratory system (hors Covid-19, NDLR) have increased significantly and become the third cause of death”underlines the study. This increase is explained in particular by the high intensity of seasonal flu epidemics at the beginning and end of the year, and by the circulation of other respiratory viruses.
For its part, Covid-19 is only the fifth cause of death in 2022. The number of deaths due to this virus has decreased by almost a third compared to 2021, probably thanks to the achievement of a “high collective immunity at national and international level”underline the authors of the study.
► Particularly fatal accidents among seniors
Alongside illnesses, which explain the majority of deaths, part is due to what the statistics call “external causes”in particular accidents (fall, road accident, drowning, etc.) or suicides. All of these “external causes” represented 44,800 deaths in 2022, or a little less than 7% of all deaths.
The proportion between deaths by accident and those by suicide varies greatly with age. “Among people under 65, the mortality rate due to all accidents (12.8 per 100,000 inhabitants) is comparable to that due to suicides (11.4)”notes the Drees study.
On the other hand, among those over 65, deaths by accident are six times more frequent than those by suicide. A proportion which is not due to the drop in suicides among older people (which even tends to increase) but rather to the increase in accidents. These are responsible for 81.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants aged 65 to 84 and even 727 deaths per 100,000 aged 85 and over, almost half of which are due to falls.
► The share of deaths at home is still increasing
This is a trend that is being confirmed. In 2022, nearly one in four deaths (23.4%) occurred at the person’s home. The figure increases by one point compared to 2020 and by two points compared to the average for the 2015-2019 period. An evolution which “can be linked to that of home hospitalizations observed since the health crisis” of Covid-19, notes Drees.
The share of deaths in nursing homes also shows a slow but steady increase. It represented 18.7% of deaths between 2015 and 2019. It crossed the 20% mark for the first time in 2022.
If the proportion of those who die at home or in nursing homes increases, it automatically decreases in health establishments. But this decline is in no way a reversal: this is still where more than half of the deaths occur. In France, in 2022, four deaths in ten took place in public establishments (42.1%), one in ten (10.7%) in a private health structure.
