US life expectancy continues to plummet — largest two-year decrease in 100 years

By John Hugh DeMastri

Life expectancy across all groups in the U.S. has fallen 2.7 years from 2019 to 2021, the largest two-year decrease in 100 years, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Wednesday.

Overall, life expectancy at birth fell to 76.1 years, with life expectancy declines driven primarily by the coronavirus pandemic and unintentional injuries including overdoses, with heart disease, liver disease and suicide representing smaller contributions, the CDC reported. While life expectancy is expected to increase slightly in 2022, it is unlikely to rise to pre-pandemic levels and CDC researchers are still waiting to see how the U.S. fares in an expected winter rise in death rates, according to Reuters.

Disparities between men and women were the greatest in more than 20 years, with the difference in life expectancy now nearly six years apart, according to Reuters. Life expectancy for men fell to 73.2 years, a one-year decline from 2020, while life expectancy for women fell to 79.1 years from 79.9 in 2020, according to the CDC report.

American Indians or Alaskan Natives (AIAN) were hit the hardest of all racial groups, with life expectancies falling 1.9 years to 65.2 years in 2021, the same as the life expectancy of the total U.S. population in 1944, the CDC reported. Contributions to the death rate from unintentional injuries, overdoses and accidents were about one-third higher than the national average, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis more than six times the national average, and suicide more than two and a half times the national average, the CDC said.

“We have a crisis of early deaths among American Indians,” Oglala Lakota tribe member Donald Warne, associate dean of diversity, equity and inclusion at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota, toldThe Wall Street Journal.

AIAN were the only racial group studied that saw an positive offset to their life expectancy due to lowered homicide rates, which accounted for nearly one-quarter of offseting positive pressure, with the overall influence of coronavirus almost equal to unintentional injuries, according to the CDC.

Black and Hispanic communities were also hit by an overdose epidemic, driven primarily by fentanyl, the WSJ reported. Higher death rates due to overdose amongst black, Hispanic and AIAN communities reflect the reduced access these groups have to health care, Karen Scott, president of the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts, told the WSJ.

“Addressing the overdose crisis requires acknowledging that you have to work on many fronts at one time,” she said.

Positive contributions to life expectancy were driven primarily by decreased deaths from influenza and pneuomnia, chronic respiratory diseases, perinatal conditions and Alzheimer’s.

The CDC did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

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4 thoughts on “US life expectancy continues to plummet — largest two-year decrease in 100 years

  1. I would like to comment on the statement about decreased deaths from influenza. This is not true. Influenza was being diagnosed as COVID-19. If you look Vermont’s influenza cases prior to COVID-19, cases fluxuated slightly but remained pretty consistent 3-5 years prior to COVID-19. The influenza numbers dropped significantly after the start of the pandemic.

    The CDC put out a notification to all laboratories to create a new test for COVID, as the PCR could not distinguish between the flu and COVID.

    I spoke to a hospital in January 2022, As my father had just passed from COVID-19. The reason for death was indicated as COVID-19, so I asked for justification of the diagnosis. The nurse informed me that she was unaware of the lab notification issued by the CDC and that she would check and call me back. The nurse called me back. She checked with the lab and medical director and said I interpreted the CDC lab notification correctly. The PCR test can’t distinguish between the flu and COVID-19. I asked them how the hospital knew he died from COVID. The nurse said they tested for COVID, flu and another respiratory illness. If two of the tests come back negative, and COVID positive. Then the patient is diagnosed as having COVID. So let that sink in. Most people in Vermont did not get multiple tests, only the PCR.

    • First im sorry to hear about your dad.

      Now, the reason they tested him for covid as well as declared his cause of death covid is because they first got paid for the positive result, they then got paid even more for listing covid as cause of death. Yes hospitals were financially incentivized, by the federal government, to test patients, prescribe patients remdemsivir, put patients on ventilators and to declare their patient’s cause of death covid. Such a sham.

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