Midlife Mortality Higher in U.S. Than Other High-Income Countries
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, April 16, 2024 -- Working-age adults in the United States are dying at higher rates than their peers in high-income countries, according to a study published online March 21 in the International Journal of Epidemiology.
Jennifer Beam Dowd, Ph.D., from the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and colleagues synthesized cause-specific mortality trends in midlife (25 to 64 years) for the United States; United Kingdom; 13 high-income countries in Western Europe, Australia, Canada, and Japan; and seven Central and Eastern European countries (1990 to 2019).
The researchers found that U.S. midlife mortality rates have worsened since 1990 for deaths related to drugs, alcohol, suicide, and metabolic, nervous system, respiratory, and infectious/parasitic diseases. There was a decline in deaths due to homicide, transport accidents, and cardiovascular diseases since 1990, although there have been recent increases or stalling of improvements. Comparatively, midlife mortality increased in the United Kingdom for people aged 45 to 54 years and in Canada, Poland, and Sweden for those aged 25 to 44 years.
"Over the past three decades midlife mortality in the United States has worsened significantly compared to other high-income countries, and for the younger 25- to 44-year-old age group in 2019 it even surpassed midlife mortality rates for Central and Eastern European countries," coauthor Katarzyna Doniec, Ph.D., also from University of Oxford, said in a statement. "This is surprising, given that not so long ago some of these countries experienced high levels of working-age mortality, resulting from the post-socialist crisis of the 1990s."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted April 2024
Read this next
ACG: 2000 to 2022 Saw Rise in Early-Onset CRC Mortality in the United States
THURSDAY, Oct. 31, 2024 -- Early-onset colorectal cancer (EO-CRC) mortality rose in the United States over the past two decades, most notably in patients aged 20 to 44 years...
Cell-Free Blood DNA Tests Less Effective Than Other CRC Screening
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 30, 2024 -- Cell-free DNA blood tests (cf-bDNA) may be more costly and less effective for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening than other screening modalities...
American College of Surgeons, Oct. 19-22
The annual meeting of the American College of Surgeons was held this year from Oct. 19 to 22 in San Francisco and attracted participants from around the world, including...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.