After decades of increasing life expectancy, recent years have seen a higher death rate among some groups of Americans, attributed to increases in suicide and drug and alcohol abuse. The causes of these so-called “deaths of despair” are still debated, but may include job loss, economic downgrading, and lack of safety net programs, such as job retraining. A recent study …
Suicide and Drug Overdose Increasing in the USA
2016 data now available from the Center for Disease Control show that suicide is now a leading cause of death for adults aged 25 – 44, at 16.9 deaths per 100,000, it exceeds the rate of death from heart disease in this age cohort. For those aged 15 – 24, suicide is now the second highest cause of death. It …