US life expectancy falls for second straight year as more people die from drug overdoses
Life expectancy in the US is continuing to drop because of accidental deaths from the prescription and illicit opioids that are sweeping the country. This is the second year in a row that life expectancy declines in the US — to 78.6 years in 2016, down from 78.7 years in 2015 and 78.8 in 2014, according to a report by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS).
The leading causes of death in the US are still heart disease and cancer. But the opioid epidemic is taking a heavy toll — particularly on young and middle-aged Americans. Last year, over 63,000 people died of drug overdoses, a 21 percent increase from 2015. The last time life expectancy dropped for two years in a row was in 1962 and 1963, when a particularly bad flu season...