A multiyear decline in life expectancy is more commonly associated with AIDS epidemics in southern and eastern Africa or wars in Syria and Afghanistan, said Majid Ezzati, a professor of public health at Imperial College London who has studied life expectancy. “The key factor is the increase in drug overdose deaths,” he said. Overall, life expectancy dropped by a tenth of a year, from 78.7 to 78.6. Given that research has shown official figures could be undercounting the true number of opioid deaths by 20 percent or more, “we could easily be at 50,000 opioid deaths last year,” he said. Read more:U.S. life expectancy will soon be on par with Mexico’sThe drug industry’s triumph over the DEA

Source: Washington Post December 21, 2017 05:04 UTC