{"id":451899,"date":"2021-03-05T11:40:01","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T16:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/?p=451899"},"modified":"2021-03-05T11:40:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-05T16:40:01","slug":"death-rates-rising-among-young-and-middle-aged-u-s-adults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marketnewsdesk.com\/index.php\/death-rates-rising-among-young-and-middle-aged-u-s-adults\/","title":{"rendered":"Death Rates Rising Among Young and Middle-Aged U.S. Adults"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nNew Report Recommends Urgent National Response
\n<\/h2>\n
\n

SYRACUSE, N.Y., March 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Young and middle-aged adults ages 25-64 in the United States have been dying at higher rates since 2010, according to a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.<\/p>\n

The report, \u201cHigh and Rising Mortality Rates Among Working-Age Adults<\/a>,\u201d<\/em> says that rising death rates are striking working-age Americans whose risk of dying from certain conditions \u2013 such as drug overdoses, suicides, and hypertensive heart disease \u2014 has been climbing since the 1990s. According to the report, Americans are more likely to die before age 65 than peers in other rich nations.<\/p>\n

Based on data from 1990-2017, the 454-page report documents a public health crisis sweeping the American workforce that has profound implications for families, communities, employers, and the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven before the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy had been declining in the U.S. for several years,\u201d said Shannon Monnat<\/a>, Lerner Chair of Public Health Promotion<\/a> and an associate professor of sociology at Syracuse University who was a member of the committee that wrote the report. \u201cWorking-age Americans have been dying at an alarming rate over the past several years, but not just from drug overdoses.\u201d<\/p>\n

The rising death rate is due to drug overdoses, alcohol, suicides and cardiometabolic conditions \u2014 a category that includes diabetes and heart diseases caused by high blood pressure and other conditions. The report recommends urgent policy actions, including addressing the overdose epidemic and the underlying causes of substance use disorders more broadly, stronger efforts to tackle obesity, and policies to reduce inequities.<\/p>\n

Death rates are higher and are increasing faster among working-age adults with less education and income and among those living in nonmetro areas. The report says that death rates among Black working-age adults have been disproportionately high for many years due to economic inequalities and inequities in health care, housing, education, and other factors, reflecting the legacy of structural racism. Although progress occurred at the turn of the century in reducing the mortality gap between Black and white Americans, death rates in working-age Black people are now increasing, effectively erasing that progress.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the increase in working-age mortality is mainly driven by these causes:<\/p>\n

\n Drugs, Alcohol and Suicide<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

Drugs and alcohol are major contributors to the rise in working-age mortality. From 1990 to 2017, fatal drug overdoses in working-age Americans increased in every state, but increases were especially large in Appalachia, New England, and the industrial Midwest.<\/p>\n

The report describes the overdose epidemic as a \u201cperfect storm\u201d created by a market flooded with highly addictive and deadly prescription and illicit drugs, and mounting demand for substances to bring relief from physical, mental, and psychological pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrug poisoning deaths, including those caused by opioids, have been the single largest contributor to the rise in death rates among U.S. working-age adults,\u201d Monnat said. \u201cThe U.S.\u00a0overdose crisis represents a perfect storm of underlying vulnerabilities combined with exposure to highly addictive and lethal substances.\u201d<\/p>\n

The report also explores the rise in suicides, which was most dramatic for white men and those living in nonmetro areas.<\/p>\n

\n Cardiometabolic Diseases<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

The report also focuses on rising deaths from cardiometabolic diseases, much of it caused by the health consequences (diabetes, hypertension, heart disease) of the obesity epidemic. Some of the most notable increases have been in the South and outside of large metropolitan areas. Young adults ages 25-44 have been especially affected because most were born after 1980 when the obesity epidemic began.<\/p>\n

Younger adults have been more exposed to \u201cobesogenic\u201d environments \u2014 unhealthy diets and lack of safe, open space for exercise \u2014 for their entire lives. Compared to older adults, they became overweight at a younger age and are more likely to remain overweight or obese today.<\/p>\n

\n Recommendations<\/strong>\n <\/p>\n

To address working-age mortality and advance research and data collection, the report recommends these actions:<\/p>\n