by these 5 causes will never be done by them.
https://www.mdlinx.com/internal-medicine/medical-news-article/2016/12/19/6986115/?
A
decades–long trend of rising life expectancy in the US could be ending:
It declined last year and it is no better than it was four years ago.
In most of the years since World War II, life expectancy in the US has
inched up, thanks to medical advances, public health campaigns, and
better nutrition and education. But last year it slipped, an exceedingly
rare event in a year that did not include a major disease outbreak.
Other one–year declines occurred in 1993, when the nation was in the
throes of the AIDS epidemic, and 1980, the result of an especially nasty
flu season. In 2015, rates for 8 of the 10 leading causes of death
rose. Even more troubling to health experts: the US seems to be settling
into a trend of no improvement at all. "With four years, you're
starting to see some indication of something a little more ominous,"
said S. Jay Olshansky, a University of Illinois–Chicago public health
researcher. An American born in 2015 is expected to live 78 years and 9½
months, on average, according to preliminary data released Thursday by
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An American born in 2014
could expect to live about month longer, and even an American born in
2012 would have been expected to live slightly longer. In 1950, life
expectancy was just over 68 years. The United States ranks below dozens
of other high–income countries in life expectancy, according to the
World Bank. It is highest in Japan, at nearly 84 years. The CDC report
is based mainly on 2015 death certificates. There were more than 2.7
million deaths, or about 86,000 more than the previous year. The
increase in raw numbers partly reflects the nation's growing and aging
population. It was led by an unusual upturn in the death rate from the
nation's leading killer, heart disease. Death rates also increased for
chronic lower lung disease, accidental injuries, stroke, Alzheimer's
disease, diabetes, kidney disease and suicide. The only clear drop was
in cancer, the nation's No. 2 killer. Experts aren't sure what's behind
the stall. Some, like Olshansky, suspect obesity, an underlying factor
in some of the largest causes of death, particularly heart disease. But
there's also the impact of rising drug overdoses and suicides, he noted.
Drug overdose deaths soared 11 percent to more than 52,000 last year,
the most ever, driven by increases in deaths from heroin, prescription
painkillers and other so–called opioids. "There are a lot of things
happening at the same time," he said. Some years the CDC later revises
its life expectancy estimate after doing additional analysis, including
for its 2014 estimate. Average life expectancy declined for men, falling
by more than two months, to 76 years and 3 ½ months in 2015. It fell by
about one month for women, to 81 years and 2 ½ months, the CDC said.
Death rates increased for black men, white men, white women, and
slightly for Hispanic men and women. But they did not change for black
women. The new CDC report did not offer a geographic breakdown of 2015
deaths, or analysis of death based on education or income. But other
research has shown death rates are rising sharply for poorer people —
particularly white people — in rural areas but not wealthier and more
highly educated and people on the coasts. "The troubling trends are most
pronounced for the people who are the most disadvantaged," said
Jennifer Karas Montez, a Syracuse University researcher who studies
adult death patterns. "But if we don't know why life expectancy is
decreasing for some groups, we can't be confident that it won't start
declining for others," she said.
Who on Earth wants to live longer? I would, but only if my extra years were during my 40's. Not now.
ReplyDeleteI do. I missed so much during my 24 years of married life, I have to make up for it now.
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