BLUF:[Hot Air] So, what’s going on? Ans: A number of things, some passing, some apparently systemic.
Reuters reports it’s a combination of factors starting with a particularly vicious cycle of flu seasons, which is especially deadly among the elderly. Many population cohorts like baby boomers are aging and succumbing to diseases that often claim the elderly like pneumonia, cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s diseases.
In the U.S. a major reason for the life expectancy decline came from younger generations, people in their 20s and 30s who died from the ongoing epidemic of drug addiction and overdoses.
One study’s lead author is Dr. Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University. He said:
A leading cause is fatal drug overdoses ‐ fueled by the opioid epidemic. But we make a mistake if we focus only on the drug problem.
Woolf also cited what he calls "deaths of despair," fatalities stemming from alcoholism and suicide.
That study also uncovered a growing midlife death rate from numerous diseases of the lungs, heart, lungs, digestive systems and other organs and rising death rates during pregnancy and early childhood.
The specific reasons for the increase in deaths caused by drugs and alcohol, particularly among white Americans, Woolf said, is "unclear, complex, and not explained by opioids alone."
He added, "Something far-reaching is affecting the health of Americans in the prime of their lives."