Death Rates Rising for Young, Middle-Aged U.S. Adults
Opioid epidemic and stalled progress against heart disease have dragged down life expectancy
U.S. Hispanics have long experienced lower death rates than blacks or whites. But the drug-overdose epidemic is affecting the longevity of younger Hispanics, according to the report and experts on health in the U.S. Hispanic population.
“People are just now starting to recognize that the opioid epidemic is not just a white phenomenon,†said Andrew Fenelon, an assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Maryland who has studied health behaviors and advantages in life expectancy among U.S. Hispanics.
Changing Mortality
The overall death rates among blacks, whites and Hispanics have declined more slowly in recent years, with rates rising among younger adults.
Age-adjusted death rates since 2000, adults 25 and over
1,750 deaths per 100,000
Percentage change in death rate since 2010
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Lindsay Huth/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Across all ages, death rates have declined, albeit more slowly in recent years. The decline in the U.S. death rate slowed in recent years for all ethnicities, including Hispanics, according to the report. While the death rate for Hispanics fell 2% each year between 2000 and 2011, that slowed to less than 1% annually from 2011 to 2017, according to the CDC report.
The death-rate decline also slowed for black Americans during those years. It barely budged, meanwhile, for white Americans.
But among younger adults age 25-44, death rates rose 21% for white and black adults and 13% for Hispanic adults between 2012 and 2017, according to the report.
Most young victims in that age group died of injuries, including drug overdoses and suicides, said Sally Curtain, a health statistician at the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, and an author of the new report.
Homicides have also risen, as well as deaths related to heavy use of alcohol, she said.
“It’s not all driven by drug overdose, but it’s pretty much all injury deaths,†she said.
Death rates also rose 6.9% for white and 4.2% for black middle-aged adults ages 45-64 from 2012-2017. They were essentially flat for Hispanics after dropping steadily in previous years.
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The data paint a differing picture for younger U.S. Hispanics, whose death rates are rising, and older generations, who have remained healthier. Most Hispanics over age 50 are foreign-born, and many came to the U.S. as workers, while more of the younger generations are U.S. born, said Mark Hugo Lopez, director of global migration and demography research at the Pew Research Center.
Immigration to the U.S. has slowed since 2007, Mr. Lopez said.
The CDC analysis includes Hispanics who are U.S. residents, both those born abroad and in the U.S. Most Hispanics living in the U.S. are of Mexican descent, and the CDC said its report mostly reflects trends that apply to that Hispanic subgroup.
Write to Betsy McKay at betsy.mckay@wsj.com
https://www.wsj.com/articles/death-rates-rising-for-young-middle-aged-u-s-adults-11563854580
