“Life expectancy declines … in U.S. and other high-income countries”

Life expectancy is declining in high-income countries worldwide, driven in part by the effects of the opioid epidemic on younger adults in the U.S. and the impact of a severe flu season on older adults in other nations, two new studies suggest.

Out of 18 countries in the study, 12 experienced life expectancy declines among men and 11 experienced life expectancy declines among women.

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Most of these countries reversed their life-expectancy decline in the 2015-2016 period, but in the U.S. and the UK, the declines continued, the authors note.

In the U.S., the source of reduced life-expectancy was concentrated at younger ages, particularly deaths among those in their 20s and 30s, and largely driven by increases in drug-overdose deaths related to the nation’s ongoing opioid epidemic.

A second study in The BMJ suggests, however, that the problems driving life expectancy declines in the U.S. are broader than just the opioid crisis and may extend to a wide range of causes unrelated to drug use or substance abuse.

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“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, which is just the tip of the iceberg,” said lead study author Dr. Steven H. Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

“Deaths from alcoholism and suicides have also increased, what some call deaths of despair,” Woolf said by email.