The U.S life expectancy has increased for decades. However, a new study reveals that lately, the life expectancy in America has declined, and the reasons behind it are alarming.
The study was published in the journal JAMA, and it was found that the decline is among the working-age Americans or those who are between ages 25 to 64. The authors said that in this group, the risk of dying from suicide, drug abuse, hypertension, and more is increasing.
The findings of the study suggest that the life expectancy in America is falling rapidly behind that of other first world countries. According to the study co-author Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, the particular decline among the working-age adults has not been seen in other first world countries, and it is labeled as an American phenomenon.
Wolf stated that the death rates among the working-age adults are on the rise. Experts have known for years that the health of Americans is inferior to that of other wealthy nations, but out research shows that the decline in American health relative to other countries began as early as the 1980s.
Life expectancy decline
The new study analyzed at least five decades of data on American life expectancy. The results showed that even though life expectancy in America increased from 1959 to 2014, those numbers plateaued in 2011, and it began decreasing in 2014.
The main reasons behind the decline are a drug overdose, suicide, alcohol abuse, and a wide variety of organ system diseases among young and middle-aged adults, especially individuals who did not complete high school. Declines were seen among those living in some parts of New England, including New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont, as well as those living in the Ohio Valley, which includes Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.
The ongoing opioid epidemic has battered these regions, and they were among the most hard-hit victims of the collapse of the United States manufacturing sector. More than one-third of excess deaths since 2010 have occurred in the Ohio Valley states. In contrast, life expectancy increased for those living along the Pacific coast from 2010 to 2017.
Health concerns
The data from the past few decades showed that American life expectancy began to lose pace with that of other countries starting in the 1980s, the authors said. Woolf said that historically, the period stated in the study was the beginning of the opioid epidemic, the shrinking of the middle class, and the widening of income inequality.
Even though many countries experienced economic turns in the 1980s, Woolf suspects that the unique drop in the life expectancy in America may be due to a lack of support for struggling families.
Woolf added that in other countries, families that fall on hard times have services and programs available to cushion the blow. In America, people have to fend for themselves. The absence of social service may also explain why the study found larger relative increases in mortality among women who have fewer support systems and more childcare responsibilities.
Howard Koh from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health described the findings of the study as the most exhaustive and detailed analysis of this topic to date. Koh also stated that one solution to the declining life expectancy in America might be embracing the leading causes of life, and that is paying more attention to how social connections and strong community networks impact well-being.
Koh said that other countries spend more in terms of social services because health is much more than what happens in a hospital. It starts where people live, labor, learn, and pray. Before a few years ago, it was assumed that life expectancy would increase in the future, now the nation risks a future in which declining life expectancy may be the new norm.
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