The Life Expectancy Drop In The U.S. May Have Something To Do With Economic Circumstances

While the overall U.S. death rate increased for the first time in ten years, the overall life expectancy also suffers a drop for the first time since 1993. This is something that should not be undermined as explained by -Philip Morgan, a demographer at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Morgan, was not involved in the present analysis. Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, released the new report. He stressed that life expectancy is a good indicator of well-being. 

Over the year 2015, the overall death rate increased from 724.6 to 733.1 every 100,000. It may not be a big deal but still,  life expectancy is affected by that triggering it to slightly decrease. That's sort of trend only happened few times in the past 50 years. Only the dip in 1993 is more obvious, due to the AIDS phenomenon when numerous deaths were not expected, along with other causes of deaths namely; flu, homicide, and accidental deaths that same year, according to NPR.

Current statistics show that the general life expectancy drops from 78.9 years to 78.8 years. For the American men, it fell slightly from 76.5 to 76.3. For women, it also dropped from 81.3 to 81.2 years. With this in mind, people must be reminded that 60-year-olds can still benefit remarkably from not smoking,

Morgan also noticed the increase of mortality rate caused by heart disease and stroke. The same with Alzheimer's, respiratory, kidney problems  and diabetes. More Americans also succumbed to accidents and suicide, as per the news from  Washington P ost.

According to studies, the obesity epidemic also plays a role in the increase in deaths from heart disease, strokes, diabetes and probably Alzheimer's. Doctors are also speculated to have exhausted their methods in fighting against heart disease all available treatments. Unintentional injuries. can also result from the epidemic of prescription opioid painkillers and heroin abuse.

There's also a possibility that circumstances in the economy experienced in the last eight years since the recession are also elements for the declining life expectancy. The cause of death may vary but the fact remains that Americans live shorter these days. Anne Case, an economist at Princeton University who is investigating the relation between economics and health affecting lifespan admits that the finding is really disturbing.