life expectancy

A new report shows the pandemic and the overdose crisis helped push down the average life expectancy in the U.S. for a second year in a row.

The CDC blames COVID for half the decline, with the second largest contributor being accidental injuries — primarily drug overdoses, which killed a record-breaking 107,000 Americans last year.

Social determinants of health are a major reason why people born in one part of Collier County are expected to live 15 years longer than those in other parts of the county, according to federal data.

The CDC says COVID-19 was the largest factor, along with drug overdoses, homicides, diabetes and chronic liver disease. The decline was even greater for Hispanic men.

Life expectancy fell by nearly two years between 2018 and 2020, largely due to COVID-19. Declines were most pronounced among minority groups, including Black and Hispanic people.

The turnaround is welcome news after rising drug overdose and suicide rates had pushed life expectancy down since 2014. Could America be turning the tide on opioid addiction?

"These sobering statistics are a wakeup call that we are losing too many Americans, too early and too often, to conditions that are preventable," says CDC Director Robert Redfield.

A national study released Tuesday provides a state-by-state look at life expectancy and the factors that are killing Floridians, and as one might expect,…

The opioid epidemic caused U.S. life expectancy to fall for the second year in a row, marking the first time that has happened since the early 1960s. Death rates also continued to rise.

Overall, U.S. life expectancy dipped in 2015 — the first drop since 1993. That's because the death rate went up between 2014 and 2015, driven by an increase in mortality among people younger than 65.