WASHINGTON - US life expectancy dropped slightly in 2008 after mostly increasing over the years, according to a new report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday.

The preliminary estimate of life expectancy at birth for the total population in 2008 is 77.8 years, compared with 77.9 years in 2007, the report shows.

Related readings:  Life expectancy of Hangzhou residents exceeds 80  U.S. life expectancy hits a new high of 78  Being overweight can cut women's life expectancy  WHO: Japan tops life-expectancy list

Life expectancy for males and females decreased about one tenth of a year each. It went from 75.4 to 75.3 years for males in 2008, and from 80.4 to 80.3 years for females.

The report also finds that the death rate in the United States for 2008 was 813.3 per 100,000 population, 1.2 percent higher than that of 2007.

The infant mortality rate for 2008 was 6.59 infant deaths per 1, 000 live births, a decrease of 2.4 percent from the 2007 rate of 6.75. With the exception of 2002 and 2005, the infant mortality rate has remained the same or decreased significantly each successive year from 1958 through 2008.

The report shows that cerebrovascular diseases, or stroke, has been the third leading cause of death in the country for over five decades - always trailing behind diseases of heart and malignant neoplasms. In 2008, chronic lower respiratory diseases (CLRD) replaced stroke as the third leading cause of death in 2008. Stroke is now the fourth leading cause of death.