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Life expectancy in the United States declined in 2017 for the third year in a row, as suicide deaths and drug overdoses continue to claim more lives in the United States.
The average American could expect to live up to 78.6 years in 2017, up from 78.7 in 2016, according to data released Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention. The decline may be modest, but the third consecutive year of life expectancy at birth has declined – a remarkable phenomenon, since the previous multi-year decline recorded by the NCHS occurred in the early 1960s.
According to the new data, the current trend seems to be fueled by a steady increase in the number of deaths by suicide and drugs. Suicide deaths and accidental injuries (including drug overdoses), as well as deaths from Alzheimer's disease, stroke, influenza and pneumonia, exceeded fatal heart disease and cancer reductions , the two leading causes of death in the country. In total, the death rate in the United States increased by 0.4% between 2016 and 2017, from 728.8 to 731.9 per 100,000 population.
The only drug overdoses cost 70,237 lives in 2017, the highest number ever recorded in a single year. Although this number corresponds to a 9.6% increase in the mortality rate, it is well below the 21% leap recorded between 2015 and 2016 – which may be a sign that the country's addiction epidemic is beginning to stabilize. Preliminary data released last month also indicated that drug overdose deaths have decreased over the last year.
Nevertheless, drugs, including opioids such as heroin, continue to be a significant cause of death. And synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, are a growing problem: the rate of overdose deaths from these drugs has increased by 45% between 2016 and 2017.
The number of deaths by suicide has increased by 3.7% between 2016 and 2017, according to the new report. Although still relatively rare, suicides killed 14 people per 100,000 in the United States last year. In 1999, by contrast, this number was about 10.5 per 100,000 inhabitants.
Increases were particularly pronounced for women, although most suicides are men. The suicide rate among women increased by 53% between 1999 and 2017, compared to 26% among men. Earlier data from the CDC showed particularly worrying increases for teenage girls, for whom the suicide rate increased by about 70% between 2010 and 2016.
The new data is sobering, but the continuing decline in heart disease and cancer deaths has a good positive side. Although the reduction in deaths from heart disease was quite minor last year, the cancer death rate decreased by 2.1% – a trend likely reflecting improved screening and screening, rates smoking, expanded immunization against HPV-related cancers, and other advances in public health.
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