Mortality Trends for Cardiac Arrest with Acute Respiratory Failure Among U.S. Adults: A CDC WONDER Analysis From 1999-2023

The study analyzed mortality trends for the combination of cardiac arrest and acute respiratory failure among U.S. adults over 25 years old from 1999 to 2023 using the CDC WONDER database. A total of 807,236 deaths were recorded with an overall annual increase in mortality of 4.06%, peaking in 2021 at 28.56 per 100,000 persons. Males consistently had higher mortality rates than females. The highest mortality rates were observed in adults aged 65 and older, reaching 96.7 in 2021. Geographically, the highest mortality rates were in the Western U.S. region (37.5 in 2021) and in rural compared to urban areas (13.45 vs 10.53). Racial differences showed that Non-Hispanic Black individuals had the highest average mortality rate. A marked increase in mortality was observed around the COVID-19 pandemic period.