The life expectancy of humans in the U.S is dropping again in 2018 because of the rise of drug abuse and suicide.
From 2016 the average life expectancy for any gender was around 79 years. The following years after had been going down for almost one year in life expectancy. 2017, had an average life expectancy of 78.5 years. Scientists and doctors predict it will drop near 77 this year.
“Life expectancy is improving in many places in the world. It shouldn’t be declining in the United States,” said Joshua M. Sharfstein, Vice Dean for Public Health Practice and Community Engagement at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The leading causes of these declines has been due to drugs. There have been over 70,000 deaths due to drug abuse during 2017. Americans have been on a constant uprising of illegal drugs and other chemical compounds. These drugs are so often found on the street and now even sold legally in some states. Since 1999, the number of drug overdose deaths has more than quadrupled.
Another cause of the death toll would be suicide rates. Since 1999 suicide rates had more than doubled for both genders. The average suicidal death rate for males in the U.S is 23.4 per 100,000. And the average for females in the U.S is 6.6 per 100,000 says Statista.
New medicine has come out to fix certain diseases and problems. However, Americans take these drugs and overdose on them for many different reasons.
“Life expectancy gives us a snapshot of the nation’s overall health and these sobering statistics are a wake-up call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable.” said CDC director Robert Redfield.
Americans can help fix this by not using illegal drugs and take in account the side effects of them. Americans can also help improve the life expectancy by not committing suicide. Over 45,000 deaths are because of suicide. Suicide is a rising topic in today’s society and needs to be stopped. If you or you know someone that is thinking about suicide call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at (1-800-273-8255).
