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The “diseases of despair,” including drug addiction, alcohol dependence and suicidal thoughts, have increased in the United States over the past decade, suggests a new study.
Researchers found a 68% increase in the number of Americans diagnosed with one of these disorders between 2009 and 2018.
The increase in suicidal thoughts was highest in adolescents under the age of 18, increasing by almost 300 percent, and there was an increase of over 110 percent in infants born with substance-related disorders in because of their mother’s drug use.
The team, at Penn State University, say the findings show a worrying trend, but can be used to identify future diagnostic “ hot spots ” in communities so that officials and public health experts can perform. interventions.
Penn State University researchers looked at diagnoses of “ diseases of despair ” in the United States between 2009 and 2018 (file image)
Diagnoses of drug addiction, alcohol dependence or suicidal thoughts and behaviors increased by 68% (total, left and right)
The concept of death from desperation was first theorized by two economists at Princeton University in 2015.
They found a decline in the life expectancy of middle-aged white men and women between 1999 and 2015 and speculated that this was due to several social and economic changes in small towns and rural areas.
This included declining salaries, the rising cost of higher education, and the relocation of several industries to major cities.
“ It is theorized that these changes have fostered a growing sense of hopelessness, including disillusionment, precariousness and resignation in the lives of many people, ” said co-author Dr Daniel George, associate professor of the humanities. and public health at Penn State College of Medicine.
“Desperation can trigger emotional, cognitive, behavioral, and even biological changes, increasing the likelihood of illnesses that can progress and ultimately lead to death from desperation.
For the study, published in BMJ Open, the team analyzed the claims of more than 12 million people insured by Highmark Health between 2009 and 2018.
Although the participants resided across the country, the majority were concentrated in Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
During the study, a total of 515,830 participants – or one in 20 – were diagnosed with at least one desperation illness.
Of these, approximately 54% were diagnosed with an alcohol-related disorder, 44% were diagnosed with a substance-related disorder, and 16% were diagnosed with suicidal thoughts or behavior.
About 13 percent of the group were diagnosed with more than one illness of despair.
Between 2009 and 2018, the annual rates of diagnosis for these diseases increased by 68%.
During the same period, the prevalence of alcohol, drug and suicide-related diagnoses increased by 37%, 94% and 170%, respectively.
For alcohol-related disorders, the greatest increase in diagnoses was observed among men (orange line, left) and women (orange line, right) aged 55 to 74 at 50% and 80%, respectively
Infant drug addiction diagnoses – due to their mother’s substance abuse – soared 114% (yellow line, left and right)
Diagnoses of suicidal thoughts and behaviors increased the most among those under 18 by 287% among those under 18 and 210% among those aged 18 to 34 (green line, left and right)
For alcohol-related disorders, the largest increases were seen among men and women aged 55 to 74, at 50 percent and 80 percent, respectively.
When it comes to suicidal thoughts, the most dramatic increases have been observed among young people, increasing by 287% for those under 18 and 210% for those aged 18 to 34.
The increases in substance use disorders were also highest among men and women aged 55 to 74, at 170%.
However, a troubling peak was these disorders in infants – attributable to neonatal abstinence syndrome linked to drug abuse by pregnant women – which increased by 114 percent.
“ This increase was entirely due to neonatal abstinence syndrome and closely matched the increase in substance use disorders in women of reproductive age, ” said Emily Brignone, senior researcher at Highmark Health Enterprise Analytics.
In the future, the team hopes to develop a model that can identify “hot spots” of diagnosed diseases of despair so that at-risk communities can receive interventions.
“We found a bird’s eye view of those affected by the rise in diseases of despair, which cut across racial, ethnic and geographic groups,” said co-author Dr Jennifer Kraschnewski, professor of medicine, human sciences. public health and pediatrics.
“Although initially thought to affect primarily rural communities, these increases in all middle-aged adults on the rural-urban continuum likely foreshadow future premature deaths.
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