In France, deaths due to Covid are falling but those linked to other respiratory diseases are increasing

France experienced a strong resurgence in respiratory diseases other than Covid in 2022, to the point that they became the third cause of death behind cancer and cardiovascular diseases, according to reference studies published Tuesday October 8.

“Tumors and diseases of the circulatory system (ischemic heart disease, cerebrovascular diseases) remain the two leading causes of death, but diseases of the respiratory system (…) are becoming the third cause of death”according to the reference work of researchers from the Public Health France agency, Inserm and the statistics department of the Ministry of Health (Drees).

Every year, these scientists take stock of the main causes of mortality with a slight delay. This is the year 2022, where more than 673,000 deaths were recorded – more than in 2020 and 2021, two years however strongly affected by Covid-19.

The mortality rate has increased in particular because of“an increase in respiratory diseases linked to winter epidemics, Covid-19, still present despite its decline, an increase in external causes (accidents, falls, etc.)”summarized, to Agence France-Presse (AFP), Anne Fouillet of Public Health France.

Deaths caused by respiratory illnesses near 2019 level

The leading cause of death in France, however, remains cancer. Responsible for more than a quarter of deaths in 2022, tumors killed slightly more men than women and, in more than half of the cases, affected seniors aged 65 to 84. Cancer mortality, however, continued its downward trend, even if it stabilized among women. Tumors of the lung, colorectal, breast, pancreas and prostate remained the most fatal.

Then, cardio-neurovascular diseases (myocardial infarction, stroke, heart failure, etc.) caused more than a fifth of deaths. Mortality due to these pathologies has further increased, particularly among women and those over 85, breaking for the second year with pre-pandemic levels. Several countries also reported an increase, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway, according to the researchers.

Sharply increasing, deaths caused by respiratory diseases excluding Covid, in particular pneumonia, chronic diseases and influenza, represented 6.7% of the total, and returned to a level close to that of 2019. For Anne Fouillet, It is “mainly due to the effect of winter epidemics of influenza (a late one in 2021-2022 and an early one in 2022-2023) and RSV [virus respiratoire syncytial, principal responsable de la bronchiolite]and, to a lesser extent, summer heatwaves ».

“Covid was able to take precedence a little in 2020-2021 over other causes of mortality, through a phenomenon of competition; in 2022, it is rather respiratory diseases which have taken over”she explained. In 2022, Covid fell to fifth place among causes of death, with victims older than in 2021, while remaining responsible for notable mortality (6.1% of all deaths).

Increase in accidental deaths

Already apparent in 2021, notable increases in deaths from endocrine, digestive and genitourinary diseases have been confirmed. And mortality due to pathologies of the nervous system including Alzheimer’s, and to a lesser extent to other dementias, has risen to levels close to pre-pandemic. A phenomenon also observed in the United Kingdom.

Another notable fact: mortality due to accidents, in particular falls and domestic accidents, increased in 2022, particularly among the elderly. Deaths due to transport accidents have also increased, without returning to pre-Covid levels.

For the first time since 2020, mortality due to external causes (accidents, suicides, etc.) was thus “significantly” higher than its pre-pandemic trend.

Overall, in the different causes of death, “the effects of sex and age combine somewhat. Excess male mortality is very high at all ages, and women who die are generally older than men.Elise Coudin (Inserm) told AFP.