The New York Times (11/26, A1, Kolata, Tavernise) reports a study published in JAMA found that life expectancy in the US “has declined over a period of three years.” While “the focus has been on the plight of white Americans in rural areas who were dying from so-called deaths of despair: drug overdoses, alcoholism and suicide,” the study found “that death rates increased for middle-aged people of all racial and ethnic groups.” Dr. Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, the study’s lead author, said, “The whole country is at a health disadvantage compared to other wealthy nations. We are losing people in the most productive period of their lives. Children are losing parents. Employers have a sicker work force.”

The Washington Post (11/26, A1, Achenbach) reports the researchers examined “the past six decades of mortality data” and found that in recent years, the US has experienced “increasing mortality and falling life expectancy for people ages 25 to 64…while other wealthy nations have generally experienced continued progress in extending longevity.” The study found that “by age group, the highest relative jump in death rates from 2010 to 2017 – 29 percent – has been among people ages 25 to 34.” The article suggests that “the findings are sure to fuel political debate about causes and potential solutions, because the geography of rising death rates overlaps to a significant extent with states and regions that are hotly contested in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.”

USA Today (11/26, Ortiz) reports “the study paints a bleak picture of a workforce plagued by drug overdoses, suicides and organ-system diseases while grappling with economic stresses.” According to the study, the US “has the worst midlife mortality rate among 17 high-income countries despite leading the world in per-capita spending on health care.” While life expectancy continued to increase in many other industrialized countries, in the US, it decreased “from a peak of 78.9 years in 2014 to 78.6 in 2017, the last year covered by the report.”

The Los Angeles Times (11/26, Healy) reports the study’s authors “suggest that the nation’s lifespan reversal is being driven by diseases linked to social and economic privation, a healthcare system with glaring gaps and blind spots, and profound psychological distress.”

Reuters (11/26, Carroll) reports the researchers also found that midlife mortality rates varied widely across the US. While life expectancy “increased or plateaued in some” states in the West, “the largest relative increases in midlife mortality rates occurred in New Hampshire, 23.3%, West Virginia, 23.0%, Ohio, 21.6%, Maine, 20.7%, Vermont, 19.9%, Indiana, 14,8% and Kentucky, 14.7%.”

The Hill (11/26, Coleman) reports the study concluded that there were at least 33,000 “excess deaths” in the US between 2010 and 2017, and one-third of those occurred in just four states: Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

Additional coverage is provided by: CNN (11/26, Christensen), Newsweek (11/26, Gander), Medscape(11/26, Frellick, Subscription Publication), and HealthDay (11/26, Thompson).

Related Links:

— “It’s Not Just Poor White People Driving a Decline in Life Expectancy, “Gina Kolata and Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times, November 26, 2019

In a greater than 2,000-word article, the AP (11/25, Binkley, Fenn) reports that an increasing number of “college students are turning to their schools for help with anxiety, depression and other mental health problems, and many must wait weeks for treatment or find help elsewhere as campus clinics struggle to meet demand, an Associated Press review of more than three dozen public universities found.” At some institutes of higher education, “the number of students seeking treatment has nearly doubled over the last five years while overall enrollment has remained relatively flat.” This increase has been associated with “reduced stigma around mental health, along with rising rates of depression and other disorders.” The increase has also led to longer wait times at student clinics when those clinics cannot hire enough mental health clinicians to meet demand.

Related Links:

— “As stigma ebbs, college students seek mental health help, “Collin Binkley and Larry Fenn, AP, November 25, 2019

Reuters (11/25, Staff) reports researchers found that young people “who use cocaine, amphetamines and cannabis are more likely to be hospitalized for heart attacks by early adulthood than their counterparts who don’t use these drugs.” The researchers analyzed data from “1,694 patients ages 15 to 22 who were hospitalized for heart attacks, plus almost 9.4 million patients this age who were hospitalized for other reasons,” and found that “overall, the risk of a heart attack hospitalization was 3.9 times higher for cocaine users, 2.3 times higher for amphetamine users, and 30% higher for cannabis users than for non-users of these drugs.” The findings were published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Related Links:

— “Cannabis tied to severe heart attack risk in younger adults, “Reuters Staff, Reuters, November 25, 2019

Reuters (11/22, Carroll) reported that a study published in JAMA Network Open suggests “teens and young adults have a higher likelihood of taking up marijuana if their parents use the drug.” Among parents currently using “cannabis or who have used the drug in the past, convincing kids not to take up the drug can be more complicated than for parents who never tried marijuana, said the study’s lead author, Bertha Madras.” Researchers used “a survey of nearly 25,000 parent-child pairs.” The study also “found that kids with moms who had used marijuana in the past, but not for at least a year, were 30% more likely to take up marijuana compared to kids with mothers who never used the drug.”

Related Links:

— “Teens, young adults more likely to take up marijuana if parents use it, “Linda Carroll, Reuters, November 22, 2019

HealthDay (11/22, Preidt) reported, “Two in three survivors of childhood sexual abuse have good mental health,” but research “suggests that social isolation, chronic pain, substance abuse and depression can hinder recovery.”

Healio (11/22, Gramigna) reported researchers arrived at their conclusions after analyzing “data from 17,014 individuals aged 20 years or older who responded to the 2012 Canadian Community Health Survey-Mental Health,” 651 of which “had a history of childhood sexual abuse.” The findings were published online Sept. 29 in the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology.

Related Links:

— “Two-Thirds of Child Abuse Survivors Do Well as Adults, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, November 22, 2019