After two years of intense circulation, Covid had taken up less space in 2022. But France then experienced a strong resurgence of other respiratory diseases, which became the third leading cause of death behind cancers and cardiovascular diseases.
"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," shows a reference study, published Tuesday by the Public Health France agency, Inserm and the statistics department of the Ministry of Health (Drees).
Every year, these scientists draw up a report on the main causes of mortality in France with a slight time lag: in this case, it is the year 2022.
More than 673,000 deaths were recorded, "a higher number than in 2020 and 2021, two years very strongly marked by the Covid-19 epidemic", Manon Cadillac (Drees) observed to AFP.
The mortality rate has increased in particular due to "an increase in respiratory diseases linked to winter epidemics, to Covid-19, still present despite its decline, to an increase in external causes (accidents, falls, etc.)", Anne Fouillet of Public Health France summarized to AFP.
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 cases, affected seniors aged 65 to 84.
Cancer mortality, however, continued its downward trend, although it stabilised among women. Lung, colorectal, breast, pancreatic and prostate tumours remained the most fatal.
– Increase in accidental deaths –
In second place: cardiovascular diseases, which cause more than a fifth of deaths.
Mortality due to these pathologies has increased again, particularly among women and those over 85, breaking for the second year with pre-pandemic levels. Several countries have also reported an increase, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Norway, according to the researchers.
Deaths caused by respiratory diseases other than Covid, including pneumonia, chronic diseases and influenza, increased sharply, accounting for 6.71% of the total. They have 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 (respiratory syncytial virus, the main cause of bronchiolitis, Editor's note), and, to a lesser extent, summer heatwaves."
"Covid was able to take over a little in 2020-2021 from other causes of mortality, through a phenomenon of competition; in 2022, it was rather respiratory diseases that took over," she explained.
In 2022, Covid fell to fifth place among the causes of death, with older victims than in 2021, while remaining responsible for significant mortality (6.11% of all deaths).
Already apparent in 2021, the notable increases in deaths from endocrine, digestive and genitourinary diseases have been confirmed.
And mortality due to nervous system pathologies including Alzheimer's and, to a lesser extent, other dementias, has risen to levels close to pre-pandemic levels. A phenomenon also observed in the United Kingdom.
Another notable fact: mortality due to accidents, particularly falls and domestic accidents, increased in 2022, particularly among the elderly. Deaths due to transport accidents 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 a little. Male excess mortality is very high at all ages, and women who die are generally older than men," Elise Coudin (Inserm) told AFP.
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