Americans' life expectancy has remained unchanged for a third straight year, following decades in which it had steadily risen, according to government statistics.
![Increase in Life Expectancy Has Stalled in United States: CDC Report Increase in Life Expectancy Has Stalled in United States: CDC Report](https://images.medindia.net/health-images/1200_1000/people-aged1.jpg)
‘The CDC reported that the life expectancy in US has stagnated for three consecutive years. There has also been a drop in the infant mortality rate in 2014.’
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Life expectancy had stagnated for three years once before, during the 1980s. ![twitter](https://images.medindia.net/icons/news/social/twitter.png)
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But overall, gains in longevity have been almost a constant since World War II, owing primarily to medical advances, improved nutrition and education, and public health policies such as the campaign against smoking.
The causes of the recent plateau in life expectancy are not entirely clear, but several experts say that a sharp increase in deaths from illegal drug use, as well as suicides, could be factors.
A study published in November 2015 by the American Angus Deaton, a 2015 Nobel Prize laureate, suggests that mortality among middle-aged white Americans, which had been declining since 1978, has been on the rise for 15 years because of alcohol and drug abuse and suicides, particularly among the disadvantaged.
While some researchers have pointed to the sharp rise in obesity as a mortality factor, the CDC said there was no data for now to support that view.
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The chief causes of US mortality (73.8% of all deaths) are unchanged from 2014, in descending order: cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory ailments, accidental injuries, strokes, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, influenza, pneumonia, kidney disease and suicide.
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But deaths from Alzheimer's, affecting the growing population of aging Americans, were up 8.1%, and deaths by suicide and accidents rose 3%.
Source-AFP