Big Pharma reducing lifespans in the US
Decline marks first time in half a century that longevity has declined for two years in a row ? with drug overdoses ?the key driver?, researcher says
Life expectancy in the US has declined for the second year in a row as the opioid crisis continues to ravage the nation.
It is the first time in half a century that there have been two consecutive years of declining life expectancy.
Drug overdoses killed 63,600 Americans in 2016, an increase of 21% over the previous year, researchers at the National Center for Health Statistics found.
Americans can now expect to live 78.6 years, a decrease of 0.1 years. The US last experienced two years? decline in a row in 1963, during the height of the tobacco epidemic and amid a wave of flu.
?We do occasionally see a one-year dip, even that doesn?t happen that often, but two years in a row is quite striking,? said Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch with the National Center for Health Statistics. ?And the key driver of that is the increase in drug overdose mortality.?
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...-opioid-crisis