Mortality rates among adults ages 25-44 spiked between 2020 and 2023, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a paper published today in JAMA Network Open.
The paper examined excess mortality among early adults in the U.S. from 1999 to 2023 and concluded that early adult mortality has “risen substantially” in two stages, from 2011 to 2019 and 2020 to 2023.
Excess mortality among this group peaked during the pandemic years and then decreased, but not to pre-pandemic levels.
The biggest driver of excess mortality by 2023 was “drug poisoning,” they reported. However, they said that “other external and natural causes exceeded what prior trends would have projected.”
The authors concluded there is a “worsening” mortality crisis among this age group and policy conclusions ought to address the intensifying causes of excess mortality — which they said were opioid use, alcohol consumption, traffic safety and dietary risks.
They also noted that the two “distinct phases” of increased mortality before and after 2020 “may also suggest” a “need to attend to the ongoing consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic,” which they said were long-term effects of infection, medical disruption and social dislocation.
Dr. Pierre Kory, who has written several op-eds calling attention to the explosions in excess mortality and their temporal associations with the vaccine rollout slammed the paper for not mentioning the likely impact of the vaccines.
Hellbound and Down 