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Cohen comments on the steep decline in life expectancy in the United States

COVID-19 and unintentional injury deaths are cited as major contributors of this shift

Life expectancy in the United States, which has gradually increased since 1918, has sharply declined to 76.1 years, 2.7 years down from 2019. Much of the decline was driven by the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been linked to the death of over 1 million Americans since its start. Other changes tied to the decline in life expectancy include an increase in drug overdoses, heart disease, chronic liver disease, and suicide.

MPRC Associate and Professor of Sociology Philip Cohen commented, “I think it’s a wake-up call for us ... that we can’t put public health on autopilot; that we don’t have this invisible hand of development just raising living standards over time.”

The pandemic's debut in the midst of the ongoing opioid crisis may have exacerbated the decline in life expectancy, as treatment for substance use disorder became less accessible. “One crisis doesn’t wait for another” to finish, said Cohen.

Read the full Scientific American article here.

 

Lewis, Tanya. (2022, October 17). The U.S. Just Lost 26 Years’ Worth of Progress on Life Expectancy. Scientific American.