By Tyler Durden | 30 November 2018
ZERO HEDGE — During a year when drug overdose deaths jumped to a record high 72,000 – roughly one every seven minutes – it’s probably not surprising that overall life expectancy for Americans declined for the third straight year in 2017. But according to data from the CDC, drugs weren’t the only factor at play: Deaths from suicide, the flu, diabetes and many other causes also increased.
In 2017, US life expectancy at birth for the total population declined by 0.1 to 78.6 years for the total U.S. population. The drop in overall rates was driven by an increase in deaths for men (who are more likely to die of drug overdoses and suicide), with their life expectancy dropping by 0.1 to 76.1, while life expectancy for women was steady at 81.1. The spread between life expectancy for men and women also widened (in the women’s favor) by 0.1 to 4.9 years.
As more baby boomers die off, some might assume that the increase in rates has been driven by demographics, but this simply isn’t accurate. Because even when adjusted for age (which should filter out most of the impact from the aging US population), mortality rates increased by 0.4% from 728.8 per 100,000 standard population in 2016 to 731.9 in 2017. White men and white women were responsible for most of the increase, with the age adjusted mortality rate for men climbing 0.6% while the rate for women climbed 0.9%. But the rise in mortality rates for white women was offset by a 0.8% decline in rates for black women. […]
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