A recent study published in JAMA found that between 2014-2017, life expectancy in the U.S. declined. While the decline is not precipitous — dropping from 78.9 years to 78.6 years — it has raised some concerns, especially the fact that adults between the ages of 25 and 64 of all racial and ethnic groups experienced the largest increase in mortality (6%). That means this trend is impacting people of working age more than other groups.
The main causes of the increased number of deaths were drug overdoses, suicide, and health problems caused by alcoholism. But a range of other serious, chronic medical conditions, including heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, high blood pressure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were also significant contributors to the higher mortality rate.
