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Life expectancy has further declined in the United States in 2017 and has declined historically in recent years, mainly because of the drug overdose crisis, according to a report released Thursday by the government.
"This is the first time we have seen a downward trend since the great flu epidemic of 1918," AFP Robert Anderson, director of mortality statistics at the National Center for Statistics, told AFP. the health. Anderson pointed out, however, that the decline was much more marked in 1918.
In 2017, life expectancy at birth was 76.1 years for men and 81.1 years for women. The average population was 78.6 years, compared with 78.9 in 2014.
The average is three and a half years less than forecast in Canada, a border country and also affected by the overdose crisis.
"These statistics warn us and show that many Americans were lost very early for preventable reasons," said Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The scourge of drug overdoses began in the last decade and has become more intense in the last four years.
In 2017, nearly 70,000 Americans died of an overdose, or 10% more than in 2016.
Anderson compared the situation to the pinnacle of the HIV epidemic, with one difference: it quickly declined. He expects overdoses to follow the same path.
"We are a developed country, the life expectancy should increase rather than decrease," he said.
According to 2016 figures, only Iceland has recently experienced a decline in life expectancy among the 35 OECD countries. In other countries, the index rose or remained stagnant.
The number of suicides has also increased in the United States in 2017.
– Opiates –
There are two categories of overdoses. The first concerned non-opiate drugs, such as cocaine and methamphetamine and other psychostimulants: they killed about 27,000 people.
But the significant increase was caused by the second category: opiates.
This includes heroin, morphine and so-called partially synthetic opiates, such as oxycodone, a prescription drug sold on the black market, with the help of doctors and complicit labs. who pretend to ignore the problem and serve as a gateway. for the addiction.
Recently, many deaths have been caused by a new generation of drugs: synthetic opiates, such as fentanyl, dozens of times more potent than heroin. A lighter dose error can be fatal.
This opiate killed the singer Prince. And it was used in the execution of a convict in August in Nebraska.
The synthetic opiate mortality rate doubled from 2015 to 2016. Last year, it recorded a 45% increase.
But the data for 2017 reveals a relative hope: the number of overdoses continues to increase, but at a slower pace.
Preliminary data for 2018 even suggest that the crisis peaked early in the year. "But it's hard to say because we only have data for a few months at the moment," says Robert Anderson, cautious.
In Staten Island, NY, Dr. Harshal Kirane, director of a treatment center, avoids drawing conclusions.
"It is promising to see that the trajectory follows a curve, but 70,000 deaths are still difficult to accept."
The country is not equally affected by the problem. Central states, from Texas to South Dakota, are relatively safe.
The crisis is acute in New England, on the northeast coast, where overdoses kill more than 25% of organ donations, which is comparable to road accidents.
It is also very strong in the old industrial belt (Ohio and Pennsylvania) and especially in poor West Virginia, which ranks before the sad index with 58 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants, against a national average of 22.
* AFP
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