Mortality by Education Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic, US, 2017-2020

Introduction: Mortality disparities by SES, including education, have steadily increased in the U.S. over the past decades. This study examined whether these disparities overall and for 7 major causes of death were exacerbated in 2020, coincident with the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Using data on 7,123,254 U.S. deaths from 2017 to 2020, age-standardized death rates and mortality rate differences per 100,000 population and rate ratios comparing least with most educated were calculated by sex and race/ethnicity. Results: All-cause death rates were approximately 2 times higher among adults with least than among those with most education. Disparities in all-cause mortality by educational attainment slightly increased from 2017 (rate ratio=1.97; 95% CI=1.95, 1.98; rate difference=739.9) to 2019 (rate ratio=2.04; 95% CI=2.03, 2.06; rate difference=761.3) and then greatly increased in 2020 over-all (rate ratio=2.32; 95% CI=2.30, 2.33; rate difference=1,042.9) and when excluding COVID-19 deaths (rate ratio=2.27; 95% CI=2.25, 2.28; rate difference=912.3). Similar patterns occurred across race/ethnicity and sex, although Hispanic individuals had the greatest relative increase in disparities for all-cause mortality from 2019 (rate ratio=1.47; 95% CI=1.43, 1.51; rate difference=282.4) to 2020 overall (rate ratio=2.00; 95% CI=1.94, 2.06; rate difference=652.3) and when excluding COVID-19 deaths (rate ratio=1.84; 95% CI=1.79, 1.90; rate difference=458.7). Disparities in cause -specific mortality by education were generally stable from 2017 to 2019, followed by a considerable increase from 2019 to 2020 for heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and unintentional injury. Among these causes of death, the relative increase in rate ratio from 2019 to 2020 was great-est for unintentional injury (24.8%; from 3.41 [95% CI=3.23, 3.60] to 4.26 [95% CI=3.99, 4.53]).Conclusions: Mortality disparities by education widened in the U.S. in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Further research is warranted to understand the reasons for these widened disparities. Am J Prev Med 2023;64(1):105-116. (c) 2022 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

This study examines the mortality disparities in the U.S. based on socioeconomic status, particularly in relation to education, and investigates whether these disparities were exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The findings show that there was a significant increase in overall mortality disparities in 2020 compared to 2017 and 2019, particularly for heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, and unintentional injury. Further research is needed to understand the factors contributing to these widening disparities.