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. 2022 Aug 31;17(8):e0272973.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272973. eCollection 2022.

Reductions in US life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic by race and ethnicity: Is 2021 a repetition of 2020?

Theresa Andrasfay  1 , Noreen Goldman  2
Affiliations

Reductions in US life expectancy during the COVID-19 pandemic by race and ethnicity: Is 2021 a repetition of 2020?

Theresa Andrasfay et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

COVID-19 had a huge mortality impact in the US in 2020 and accounted for most of the overall reduction in 2020 life expectancy at birth. There were also extensive racial/ethnic disparities in the mortality impact of COVID-19 in 2020, with the Black and Latino populations experiencing reductions in life expectancy at birth over twice as large as that of the White population. Despite continued vulnerability of these populations, the hope was that widespread distribution of effective vaccines would mitigate the overall mortality impact and reduce racial/ethnic disparities in 2021. In this study, we quantify the mortality impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on 2021 US period life expectancy by race and ethnicity and compare these impacts to those estimated for 2020. Our estimates indicate that racial/ethnic disparities have persisted, and that the US population experienced a decline in life expectancy at birth in 2021 of 2.2 years from 2019, 0.6 years more than estimated for 2020. The corresponding reductions estimated for the Black and Latino populations are slightly below twice that for Whites, suggesting smaller disparities than those in 2020. However, all groups experienced additional reductions in life expectancy at birth relative to 2020, and this apparent narrowing of disparities is primarily the result of Whites experiencing proportionately greater increases in mortality in 2021 compared with the corresponding increases in mortality for the Black and Latino populations in 2021. Estimated declines in life expectancy at age 65 increased slightly for Whites between 2020 and 2021 but decreased for both the Black and Latino populations, resulting in the same overall reduction (0.8 years) estimated for 2020 and 2021.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Percentage of COVID-19 deaths in each age group by race/ethnicity, 2020 and 2021.
Vertical lines indicate the median age of COVID-19 deaths in each year. We estimate the median age of COVID-19 deaths in both years with the assumption that deaths occur uniformly within each age group. Data are from CDC WONDER (July 6, 2022, update). Deaths below age 5 are not shown because some counts are suppressed.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Age-specific COVID-19 mortality rates by race/ethnicity, 2020 and 2021.
Data are from CDC WONDER (July 6, 2022, update). Mortality rates below age 5 are not shown because some counts are suppressed.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Ratio of age-specific COVID-19 mortality rates for the Black and Latino populations relative to the White population, 2020 and 2021.
Data are from CDC WONDER (July 6, 2022, update). Ratios below age 5 are not shown because some counts are suppressed.
Fig 4
Fig 4. Change in life expectancy at birth and at age 65 (years) relative to 2019 by race/ethnicity, 2020 and 2021.
Changes are all relative to 2019 life expectancy. Data are from CDC WONDER (July 6, 2022, update).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Update of

References

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