Affiliation:
1. Department of Demography, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA
2. Institut national d’études démographiques (INED), 133, boulevard Davout, PARIS cedex 20, France
Abstract
Abstract
Background
The USA ranks last in life expectancy among high-income countries. Since 2000, excess US mortality has been particularly concentrated in the working ages, which are also the ages hardest hit by the increase in drug deaths. This study measures the effect of drug-related mortality on the gap in life expectancy between the USA and other countries.
Methods
Data from the Human Mortality Database and the World Health Organization were combined to construct age-standardized mortality rates for 2000–14 in 12 high-income countries and the USA for seven broad causes of death, including drug use. The contribution of each cause to the difference in life expectancy between the USA and the other 12 countries was estimated.
Results
In 2014, the increase in drug-related deaths accounted for 10–15% of the US disadvantage in mortality, but with marked differences by age group. For working-age men, the increase in drug-related deaths accounted for up to 38% of the difference. Overall, American mortality is higher than the comparison countries across a wide range of causes.
Conclusions
The severity of the drug epidemic appears to be specific to the USA, but it only partly contributes to the American shortfall in mortality.
Funder
National Institute on Aging
National Institutes of Health
Society of Actuaries in the United States
Canadian Institute of Actuaries
United Kingdom Institute and Faculty of Actuaries
Reinsurance Group of America
SCOR
National Institute of Aging
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
General Medicine,Epidemiology
Cited by
11 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献