alt=Lois M. CollinsAmerica is suffering a “calamity of chronic disease” that is driving life expectancy down, making the United States an outlier compared to peer nations when it comes to excess deaths.
That’s according to a detailed analysis by The Washington Post on America’s dwindling lifespan and the disease burden that is killing us. The reporters focused on deaths among those 35 to 64 — a time that should be healthy, robust middle age.
We tend to think that dramatic events like the pandemic or an epidemic of drug overdoses account for disheartening statistics. Not so, writes the Post.
Among other findings, the Post said that “chronic illnesses, which often sicken people in middle age after the protective vitality of youth has ebbed, erase more than twice as many years of life among people younger than 65 as all the overdoses, homicides, suicides and car accidents combined.”
For the analysis, a team of reporters, a photographer and others spent a year analyzing and documenting a half-century’s premature death records on a county level, U.S. and international life expectancy data, demographic and voting pattern figures, as well as excess death projections here and abroad.
In a separate article in the package, The Washington Post notes that America has “New World Syndrome — the processed foods and sedentary lifestyle that are factors in lowering U.S. life expectancy.”
While homicide, opioids and HIV grab attention as killers, the article points out, heart diseases and cancers — often linked to lifestyle — are the real titans of death.
The report finds income inequality culpable for a sizable portion of premature deaths as rich communities see life expectancy grow, while low-income communities see it fall. That inequality plays out in many ways, including what people eat, how they exercise, whether they see doctors in a timely way and more.
Progress grinds to a halt
Life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 in the year 1900, then climbed for decades, flirting with 80 by 2010. Then it started to fall again. As the Post notes, kidney disease, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and liver disease have only increased among those in middle age. And many of the patterns are set when individuals are much younger, from how they eat to how or if they exercise.
COVID-19 also took a toll. In 2021, life expectancy in the United States was 76.4 years. As usual, women have the edge over men when it comes to life expectancy, at 79.3 years compared to 73.5 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That’s a drop of just over six months from 2020.
Life expectancy is usually presented as a calculation at birth: In 2021, a baby could expect to live 76.4 years, on average. But it’s a confusing statistic that changes with epidemics and dangerous trends like opioid-related overdose deaths. Still, writes The Washington Post team, “the life expectancy metric is a reasonably good measure of a nation’s overall health. And America’s is not very good.”
While cancer deaths caused by smoking have declined, rates of colorectal, breast and thyroid cancer are rising.
In the package on longevity, The Washington Post reports that “while the United States specializes in high-tech interventions for acute illness, other countries emphasize preventing illness.” Using an interactive feature, a reader can plug in personal details including age, gender and one’s state of residence to compare projected personal life expectancy and community life expectancy to the bigger national picture.
A study in the American Journal of Public Health says that the “U.S. life expectancy disadvantage began in the 1950s and has steadily worsened over the past four decades. Dozens of globally diverse countries have outperformed the United States.”
Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University and a study author, told the university’s news service that the “analysis shows that premature deaths among Americans are a much larger and older public health issue than previously believed.”
He concluded, “This issue is not a lack of solutions, but rather a lack of political will,” citing a need for policy solutions.
Make better choices
Earlier this year, Greg Macpherson, a New Zealand pharmacist, biotechnologist and author of “Harnessing the Nine Hallmarks of Aging,” told the Deseret News that people with a healthier lifestyle are more likely to have younger cells and to age better and live longer.
He notes that if medication keeps you alive, you’re not necessarily living healthier. The focus should be on prevention of disease and premature aging.
One key factor is diet, according to Macpherson, who said that “we are ancient bodies in a modern world,” with the chronic stresses that entails. He adds that sleep, hygiene, mindfulness and how we eat are all important to a long, healthy life.
“It’s never too late,” he said. “Genes change within a few hours.” Simple things like changing to a stand-up desk spark an immediate body response. No matter what one’s health status is, he added, “you can do something.”
Others are also warning that Americans are in trouble when it comes to longevity. This week, a study by researchers from the University of Cambridge published in The Lancet journal Diabetes & Endocrinology identified an “urgent need to develop and implement interventions that prevent or delay the onset of diabetes, especially as the prevalence of diabetes among younger adults is rising globally,” as MedicalXpress reported.
The researchers found a Type 2 diabetes diagnosis at age 30 could reduce life expectancy by as many as 14 years. Type 2 diabetes is often linked to obesity, a poor diet and lack of exercise, meaning addressing those issues could help prevent the chronic disease from gaining a foothold.
They found that the earlier one developed Type 2 diabetes, the greater the potential loss of years.
NPR reported in March that America’s life expectancy was still going down post-COVID, even “as it rebounds in other countries.” In fact, “American life expectancy is lower than that of Cuba, Lebanon and Czechia,” the article said.
As for why America lags behind comparable countries, “Americans eat more calories and lack universal access to health care. But there’s also higher child poverty, racial segregation, social isolation, and more. Even the way cities are designed makes access to good food more difficult,” the NPR article said.
Other factors diminishing longevity, outlined in a “Shorter Lives, Poorer Health” report a decade ago, include teen pregnancy, drug overdoses, HIV, fatal car crashes, injuries and violence.”