Americans Are Living Longer Again

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Health Statistics Report, released in January 2020, average Americans were living longer in 2018 for the first time since 2014. Although the total number of deaths due to heart disease decreased, it remains the nation’s No. 1 cause of death. The expected average American lifespan at the time of birth grew by 36 days from 78.6 in 2017 to 78.7 in 2018. There were declines in deaths caused by all four of the top killers: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries and chronic lower respiratory diseases.

The fifth leading cause of death, stroke, stayed at the same level, about 37 per 100,000 people.

The last ten years have witnessed significant improvements in lifestyle choices and behaviors in the U.S. This has helped large numbers of people decrease the incidence of heart disease and stroke. For example, people are paying more attention to diet, managing their cholesterol, and giving up smoking.

The news is not so good, however, among young adults. Lifestyle behaviors are impacting our young people and leave medical professionals concerned about the health of future generations.

“This will be our north star for the next ten years,” said Robert Harrington, chair of the department of medicine at Stanford University and president of the American Heart Association. “The focus will be on trying to improve healthy living among our young people over the next decade.”

Other interesting highlights from the CDC’s Health Statistics reports include:

  1. For males, life expectancy changed from 76.1 years in 2017 to 76.2 in 2018—an increase of 0.1 year. For females, life expectancy increased about the same: 0.1 year, from 81.1 years in 2017 to 81.2 in 2018.
  2. A total of 658 women died due to childbirth in the U.S. in 2018, and their death rate per 100,000 live births was 17.4.
  3. In 2018, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths — that was 4.1% fewer deaths than the year before.
  4. The drug overdose death rate was lower in 2018 than 2017 in 15 states and Washington, DC. They are: Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
  5. The drug overdose death rate was higher in 2018 than 2017 in five states: California, Delaware, Missouri, New Jersey and South Carolina.