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The decline is mostly the product of an increase in drug overdose deaths and suicides (likely also related to drug abuse[1]). Cancer mortality is continuing to

The decline is mostly the product of an increase in drug overdose deaths and suicides (likely also related to drug abuse[1]). Cancer mortality is continuing to decline which is nice to hear: "Earlier this century, the steady and robust decline in heart-disease deaths more than offset the rising number from drugs and suicide, Dr. Anderson said. Now, “those declines aren’t there anymore,” he said, and the drug and suicide deaths account for many years of life lost because they occur mostly in young to middle-aged adults. While progress against deaths from heart disease has stalled, cancer deaths—the nation’s No. 2 killer—are continuing a steady decline that began in the 1990s, Dr. Anderson said. “That’s kind of our saving grace,” he said. “Without those declines, we’d see a much bigger drop in life expectancy.” Drug-overdose deaths skyrocketed between 2015 and 2017, particularly for adults between ages 25 and 54. The main culprit was fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that became pervasive in illicit drug supplies in the U.S. around that time. Deaths from synthetic opioids rose 45% in 2017, while the death rate from heroin, which had risen sharply after 2010, was flat." [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4499285/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4499285/

mrweasel 8y ago
> The decline is mostly the product of an increase in drug overdose and suicides The US is pretty much also the only country where suicides are increasing.
- thrower123 8y ago
  Are there other countries where the news media is as hell-bent on stoking the fires of craziness and painting the world as a horrible, horrible place full only of strife and despair?
  - fooker 8y ago
    India
    - mrweasel 8y ago
      Has a declining suicide rate. The rate is higher than that of the US, but improving, while the rate in the US is getting worse.
      - fooker 8y ago
        The question was about the media, not the suicide rate.
  - hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
    The big change relatively recently is that suicides in rural areas are now far higher than urban. Have you been to a rural area in the US recently? Most have been completely hollowed out - there is no hope in a lot of these places. The despair there is real.
    - lubesGordi 8y ago
      Can you be more specific than just 'rural'? I've been through middle Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and those areas seem mostly fine to me. Is it because rural farming is still ok but other rural like appalachia or rural Montana isn't doing well? Specifically where is hollowed out?
      - colinyoung 8y ago
        I think OP was probably referring to the 'dead Main Streets' and 'neighborhood near the plant that closed is totally struggling' phenomenon. I've been around the same areas and see seriously struggling places. When I was growing up, the Main Street was a little better but still bad, but the new strip mall stores/outlets/Walmart out by the highway were doing great. Now, the stores around the Walmart aren't even alive.
      - jniedrauer 8y ago
        I've seen what they described in Texas, Virginia, Utah, etc. I suspect that it is like this throughout much of the southern United States. People are born in places that cannot provide them an adequate living, and then they are too poor to leave. It's a pretty hopeless situation to become trapped in.
      - hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
        Basically a lot of the "rust belt" areas like Ohio, Kentucky, large swaths of Pennsylvania, parts of Virginia, etc., and also rural areas of southern states that were always below average or poor are now downright destitute.
      - WhompingWindows 8y ago
        I took a road trip through the Northern states, WI, MN, SD, WY, it was truly depressing. Some of these towns were just shells, no interesting businesses, tiny run down houses, shuttered buildings, the only buildings that were open were the post office and a couple diners or gas stations. I don't consider that mostly fine, it was sad.
- adventured 8y ago
  Suicide rates in several other developed nations are either higher or compable to the US. Things must be really, really bad in Belgium, Finland and Iceland eh (you know, just three of the nicest countries on Earth). How could Sweden, France and Australia be anywhere near the US rate? Suicide rates in order per 100k: South Korea 20.2, Belgium 15.7, Japan 14.3, Finland 13.8, US 13.3, Iceland 13.3, France 12.1, Sweden 11.7, Australia 11.7, New Zealand 11.6, Switzerland 11.3, Ireland 10.9, Canada 10.4, Norway 10.1 Others in Europe: Russia 26, Lithuania 25.7, Belarus 21.4, Ukraine 18.5, Latvia 17.2, Estonia 14.4, Hungary 13.6, Moldova 13.4, Poland 13.4, Slovenia 13.3, Austria 11.4 Why are Europeans killing themselves at such high rates?
  - jobigoud 8y ago
    Belgium has decriminalized euthanasia, maybe that plays a role...
    - Alex_Fragd 8y ago
      Should euthanasia be included in suicide rates though? Honest question, I really dont know. Having a terminal illness at age 90 and being clinically depressed at age 18 are very different things (obviously).
  - scottlocklin 8y ago
    I think it is rate of change which has people concerned. The rate of suicide in the US is up 25% in the last 15 years.
    - ArchTypical 8y ago
      > The US is pretty much also the only country where suicides are increasing So the initial assertion was not compelling. > it is rate of change which has people concerned. Do you have any source about people being concerned (what people?) for the new goalpost?
  - Tade0 8y ago
    Note that the majority of the mentioned countries are relatively small. The rates in the largest ones - that is Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain - covering more than half of the European population - are much lower than in the US. The elephant(s) in the room is(are) of course Russia and within the EU - Poland(population: 38mln) - but in these cases the explanation as to why it happens is pretty obvious.
- Alex_Fragd 8y ago
  I suspect it's because we hate poor people and think any form of welfare is "Russian Communist Socialism" When it comes to spending on social welfare, the U.S. is at the low end of the spectrum relative to Western Europe. For example, only 18.8 percent of the U.S. GDP is spent on social welfare, while most of the OECD nations spend at least 25 percent of their GDP. Our rates of suicide are increasing while their rates fall. of course it's way more complicated and nuanced than my one example. edit - no? is this wrong?
  - leetcrew 8y ago
    not sure exactly why you're being downvoted, but you probably should justify why "percent of GDP spent on social welfare" is the relevant comparison here. the US is in the top quartile of OECD countries for GDP per capita, and has over twice the GDP per capita of the lowest quartile countries. if they spent the same percentage of GDP as the other countries, they would be spending vastly more per citizen.
nonbel 8y ago
> "Drug-overdose deaths skyrocketed between 2015 and 2017, particularly for adults between ages 25 and 54. The main culprit was fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that became pervasive in illicit drug supplies in the U.S. around that time." CDC wonder[1] has data from 1999-2016, when I plotted the appropriate ICD-10 codes[2] I found this is a misleading way of describing the data: https://i.ibb.co/N9Fqmxd/CDCmort.png https://i.ibb.co/N9Fqmxd/CDCmort.png You can clearly see that deaths attributed to these codes in those age groups have been increasing since well before 2015, basically since the data became available. [1] https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18561136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18561136

mrweasel 8y ago

> The decline is mostly the product of an increase in drug overdose and suicides The US is pretty much also the only country where suicides are increasing.

thrower123 8y ago
Are there other countries where the news media is as hell-bent on stoking the fires of craziness and painting the world as a horrible, horrible place full only of strife and despair?
- fooker 8y ago
  India
  - mrweasel 8y ago
    Has a declining suicide rate. The rate is higher than that of the US, but improving, while the rate in the US is getting worse.
    - fooker 8y ago
      The question was about the media, not the suicide rate.
- hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
  The big change relatively recently is that suicides in rural areas are now far higher than urban. Have you been to a rural area in the US recently? Most have been completely hollowed out - there is no hope in a lot of these places. The despair there is real.
  - lubesGordi 8y ago
    Can you be more specific than just 'rural'? I've been through middle Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas and those areas seem mostly fine to me. Is it because rural farming is still ok but other rural like appalachia or rural Montana isn't doing well? Specifically where is hollowed out?
    - colinyoung 8y ago
      I think OP was probably referring to the 'dead Main Streets' and 'neighborhood near the plant that closed is totally struggling' phenomenon. I've been around the same areas and see seriously struggling places. When I was growing up, the Main Street was a little better but still bad, but the new strip mall stores/outlets/Walmart out by the highway were doing great. Now, the stores around the Walmart aren't even alive.
    - jniedrauer 8y ago
      I've seen what they described in Texas, Virginia, Utah, etc. I suspect that it is like this throughout much of the southern United States. People are born in places that cannot provide them an adequate living, and then they are too poor to leave. It's a pretty hopeless situation to become trapped in.
    - hn_throwaway_99 8y ago
      Basically a lot of the "rust belt" areas like Ohio, Kentucky, large swaths of Pennsylvania, parts of Virginia, etc., and also rural areas of southern states that were always below average or poor are now downright destitute.
    - WhompingWindows 8y ago
      I took a road trip through the Northern states, WI, MN, SD, WY, it was truly depressing. Some of these towns were just shells, no interesting businesses, tiny run down houses, shuttered buildings, the only buildings that were open were the post office and a couple diners or gas stations. I don't consider that mostly fine, it was sad.
adventured 8y ago
Suicide rates in several other developed nations are either higher or compable to the US. Things must be really, really bad in Belgium, Finland and Iceland eh (you know, just three of the nicest countries on Earth). How could Sweden, France and Australia be anywhere near the US rate? Suicide rates in order per 100k: South Korea 20.2, Belgium 15.7, Japan 14.3, Finland 13.8, US 13.3, Iceland 13.3, France 12.1, Sweden 11.7, Australia 11.7, New Zealand 11.6, Switzerland 11.3, Ireland 10.9, Canada 10.4, Norway 10.1 Others in Europe: Russia 26, Lithuania 25.7, Belarus 21.4, Ukraine 18.5, Latvia 17.2, Estonia 14.4, Hungary 13.6, Moldova 13.4, Poland 13.4, Slovenia 13.3, Austria 11.4 Why are Europeans killing themselves at such high rates?
- jobigoud 8y ago
  Belgium has decriminalized euthanasia, maybe that plays a role...
  - Alex_Fragd 8y ago
    Should euthanasia be included in suicide rates though? Honest question, I really dont know. Having a terminal illness at age 90 and being clinically depressed at age 18 are very different things (obviously).
- scottlocklin 8y ago
  I think it is rate of change which has people concerned. The rate of suicide in the US is up 25% in the last 15 years.
  - ArchTypical 8y ago
    > The US is pretty much also the only country where suicides are increasing So the initial assertion was not compelling. > it is rate of change which has people concerned. Do you have any source about people being concerned (what people?) for the new goalpost?
- Tade0 8y ago
  Note that the majority of the mentioned countries are relatively small. The rates in the largest ones - that is Germany, France, UK, Italy and Spain - covering more than half of the European population - are much lower than in the US. The elephant(s) in the room is(are) of course Russia and within the EU - Poland(population: 38mln) - but in these cases the explanation as to why it happens is pretty obvious.
Alex_Fragd 8y ago
I suspect it's because we hate poor people and think any form of welfare is "Russian Communist Socialism" When it comes to spending on social welfare, the U.S. is at the low end of the spectrum relative to Western Europe. For example, only 18.8 percent of the U.S. GDP is spent on social welfare, while most of the OECD nations spend at least 25 percent of their GDP. Our rates of suicide are increasing while their rates fall. of course it's way more complicated and nuanced than my one example. edit - no? is this wrong?
- leetcrew 8y ago
  not sure exactly why you're being downvoted, but you probably should justify why "percent of GDP spent on social welfare" is the relevant comparison here. the US is in the top quartile of OECD countries for GDP per capita, and has over twice the GDP per capita of the lowest quartile countries. if they spent the same percentage of GDP as the other countries, they would be spending vastly more per citizen.

nonbel 8y ago

> "Drug-overdose deaths skyrocketed between 2015 and 2017, particularly for adults between ages 25 and 54. The main culprit was fentanyl and other synthetic opioids that became pervasive in illicit drug supplies in the U.S. around that time." CDC wonder[1] has data from 1999-2016, when I plotted the appropriate ICD-10 codes[2] I found this is a misleading way of describing the data: https://i.ibb.co/N9Fqmxd/CDCmort.png https://i.ibb.co/N9Fqmxd/CDCmort.png You can clearly see that deaths attributed to these codes in those age groups have been increasing since well before 2015, basically since the data became available. [1] https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html https://wonder.cdc.gov/mcd-icd10.html [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18561136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18561136