Deaths Due To Pneumonia Related Cardiovascular Disease in Older Adults

https://doi.org/10.55966/assaj.2025.4.1.067

Abstract

Pneumonia can result in serious cardiovascular diseases, and for almost twenty years, pneumonia-associated death rates in the United States were continuously decreasing. Nonetheless, new findings indicate that this trend might be changing. The basic objective is to explore how different factors such as gender, race, region, city size intersectionality has influenced cumulative changes over time concerning CVD mortality owing to pneumonia from 1999 to 2020. It is desired to analyze the frequency of deaths caused by cardiac complications due to pneumonia with respect to time. For this purpose, we utilized the National Vital Statistics Report from 1999–2020. We divided the data by sex and race /ethnicity along with rural vs urban geography classification. Furthermore, it is assessed pre-2018 and post-2018 periods separately to evaluate potential shifts. From 1999 to 2018, pneumonia-related CVD mortality declined across all major population groups and regions. From 2018 to 2020, a sharp and statistically significant increase was observed. Males consistently had higher mortality than females, with a more pronounced spike after 2018. Black or African American populations experienced the highest relative increases, exacerbating existing health disparities. Geographic analysis revealed marked increases in the West and Northeast, and urban areas especially large central and fringe metropolitan regions saw the steepest rises. The observed reversal coincides with the emergence of COVID-19, suggesting misclassification, indirect effects, or compounded vulnerability during the early pandemic.

Keywords: Deaths, Pneumonia, Cardiovascular Disease, Older Adults, Pandemic