According to a November 29, 2018, report on U.S. mortality released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), overall life expectancy declined from 78.7 years in 2016 to 78.6 in 2017. Life expectancy for males dropped from 76.2 to 76.1, but remained unchanged for women at 81.1 years. From 2016 to 2017, age-adjusted death rates increased for seven of the 10 leading causes of death, including unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza, and pneumonia, and suicide. RELATED: Understanding Suicide — From Risk Factors to Prevention, and How to Get Help The rate decreased for cancer, which remained the second leading cause of death. Rates did not change significantly for heart disease, the leading cause of death, and kidney disease.
CDC Issues Reports on Drug Overdoses and Suicide
The CDC also released two separate reports on drug overdose deaths and suicide mortality between the years 1999 and 2017. According to the reports, the rate of drug overdose deaths in 2017 was nearly 10 percent higher than in 2016, while the suicide rate increased 3.7 percent. “The latest CDC data show that the U.S. life expectancy has declined over the past few years,” said the CDC’s director, Robert R. Redfield, MD, in a statement. “Tragically, this troubling trend is largely driven by deaths from drug overdose and suicide.” According to Jeff Lancashire, a public affairs officer for the CDC, “life expectancy also declined between 2014 and 2015 and has declined on a few occasions over the decades.”
An ‘Epidemic of Monumental Proportions’
Caleb Alexander, MD, a professor of epidemiology and the codirector of the Johns Hopkins Center for Drug Safety and Effectiveness in Baltimore, says the number of deaths caused by overdose is quite alarming. According to the CDC, the rate of drug overdoses was 3.6 times higher in 2017 than in 1999. “This is an epidemic of monumental proportions,” says Dr. Alexander. “Everybody is watching the numbers quite closely trying to understand when we’ll reach an inflection point.” Alexander stresses that “obesity and heart disease and cancer remain major public health challenges that are very important.” But, he adds, “the tragedy of the opioid epidemic is that it is responsible for taking so many lives far too soon. These are preventable deaths.”
An Urgent Call to Reverse Trends and Save Lives
Suicide has ranked as the 10th leading causing of death for all ages in the United States since 2008. According to the CDC, the suicide rate increased 33 percent from 10.5 in 1999 to 14 people per 100,000 in 2017. “Suicide, opioid mortality, handgun violence, homicide — these sorts of deaths are what keeps public health professionals, policy makers and members of the general public awake at night,” says Alexander. “The number of these deaths …underscores the urgency of comprehensive and coordinated approaches to prevent further loss of life.” Dr. Redfield echoed that sentiment in his statement, saying, “We must all work together to reverse this trend and help ensure that all Americans live longer and healthier.”
