NBC News (5/21, Sullivan) reports, “Combined deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in the U.S. plateaued in 2018 for the first time in two decades, according to a” report (PDF) from Trust for America’s Health and the Well Being Trust. NBC News adds, “The so-called deaths of despair reached a high in 2017, and the leveling off in 2018 was driven by a decrease in overall drug overdose deaths – the first such decrease in a decade.”
However, CNN (5/21, Erdman) reports “that deaths of despair increased in some minority communities during the same time period. And separately alcohol-related deaths were up 4% and suicides were up 2%.”
Medscape (5/21, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports experts warn that deaths of despair “may well increase in the wake of COVID-19.”
Related Links:
— “Drug overdose deaths drop in U.S. as other deaths of despair rise, report finds, “Kaitlin Sullivan, NBC News, May 21, 2020