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Health Disparities

Leading Causes of Death Among Adults Aged 25 to 44 Years by Race and Ethnicity in Texas During the COVID-19 Pandemic, March to December 2020

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To identify the key insights or developments described in this article

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JAMA Internal Medicine

January 1, 2022

Research Letter

Article Information and Disclosures

Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS¹;

Alexander Junxiang Chen²;

Max Jordan Nguemeni Tiako, MD, MS³;

et al

Chengan Du, PhD⁴;

Shu-Xia Li, PhD⁴;

Harlan M. Krumholz, MD, SM⁴;

Michael L. Barnett, MD, MS⁵

Author Affiliations

¹Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
²Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
³Division of General Internal Medicine and Primary Care, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
⁴Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
⁵Department of Health Policy and Management, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts

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In the United States, adults aged 25 to 44 years had the largest relative increase in all-cause mortality during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, with disproportionate increases among Black, Hispanic, and Latino adults.¹^,2 In the first 6 months of the pandemic, the number of COVID-19–attributed deaths among people aged 25 to 44 years in regions with major outbreaks was similar to or exceeded the number to deaths from drug overdoses, which has been the usual leading cause of death in this age group in prior years.³ To better understand excess mortality among adults aged 25 to 44 years during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, we examined mortality data from Texas, a racially and ethnically diverse state.

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Article Information

Accepted for Publication: September 30, 2021.

Published Online: November 22, 2021. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2021.6734

Corresponding Author: Jeremy Samuel Faust, MD, MS, Department of Emergency Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, 10 Vining St, Boston, MA 02115 (jsfaust@gmail.com).

Author Contributions: Dr Faust had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Concept and design: Faust, Nguemeni Tiako, Barnett.

Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: All authors.

Drafting of the manuscript: Faust, Nguemeni Tiako.

Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Faust, Chen, Du, Li, Krumholz, Barnett.

Statistical analysis: Faust, Nguemeni Tiako, Li, Barnett.

Administrative, technical, or material support: Chen.

Supervision: Li, Barnett.

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Krumholz reports expenses and/or personal fees from UnitedHealth, IBM Watson Health, Element Science, Aetna, Facebook, Siegfried & Jensen law firm, Arnold & Porter law firm, Martin/Baughman law firm, F-Prime Capital, and the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases in Beijing, China; owns Refactor Health and Hugo Health; and has grants and/or contracts from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Medtronic, the US Food and Drug Administration, Johnson & Johnson, Foundation for a Smoke-Free World, the Connecticut Department of Public Health, and the Shenzhen Center for Health Information. Dr Barnett reports being retained as an expert witness by government plaintiffs in lawsuits against opioid manufacturers. No other disclosures were reported.

Additional Contributions: We thank the Center for Health Statistics’ Vital Events Data Management program of the Texas Department of State Health Services for helpfully providing data. There was no compensation for the contribution.

References

Rossen LM , Branum AM , Ahmad FB , Sutton P , Anderson RN . Excess deaths associated with COVID-19, by age and race and ethnicity—United States, January 26–October 3, 2020. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2020;69(42):1522-1527. doi:10.15585/mmwr.mm6942e2 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Simon P , Ho A , Shah MD , Shetgiri R . Trends in mortality from COVID-19 and other leading causes of death among Latino vs White individuals in Los Angeles County, 2011-2020. JAMA. 2021;326(10):973-974. doi:10.1001/jama.2021.11945 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Faust JS , Krumholz HM , Du C , et al. All-cause excess mortality and COVID-19–related mortality among US adults aged 25-44 years, March-July 2020. JAMA. 2021;325(8):785-787. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.24243 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

National Center for Health Statistics. Weekly counts of deaths by jurisdiction and age. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Updated October 13, 2021. Accessed October 18, 2021. https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Weekly-Counts-of-Deaths-by-Jurisdiction-and-Age/y5bj-9g5w

Chen Y-H , Glymour MM , Catalano R , et al. Excess mortality in California during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, March to August 2020. JAMA Intern Med. 2021;181(5):705-707. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.7578 PubMed Google Scholar Crossref

Chen Y-H , Glymour M , Riley A , et al. Excess mortality associated with the COVID-19 pandemic among Californians 18-65 years of age, by occupational sector and occupation: March through November 2020. PLoS One. 2021;16(6):e0252454. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0252454 PubMed Google Scholar

Leading Causes of Death Among Adults Aged 25 to 44 Years by Race and Ethnicity in Texas During the COVID-19 Pandemic, March to December 2020

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