Overdose deaths are down, life expectancy is up, the odds of surviving cancer are improving, and we’re even losing weight.
In a year defined by election-related stress, global tensions and economic uncertainty, there’s a surprisingly hopeful trend: By a few key measures, Americans are getting healthier.
Breakthrough therapies and more preventive care are playing part. So are shifting attitudes on drinking and drugs, especially among Gen Z. The obesity rate has stopped climbing for the first time in a decade, just as weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic are becoming the rage.
Reality check: Americans still live shorter lives and experience more sickness than people in other high-income countries. The odds of surviving a health crisis are especially bad if you’re poor or an ethnic or racial minority.
Post-pandemic rebound Life expectancy is trending upward, one of several data points that indicate public health is rebounding since the pandemic.
Life expectancy increased to 77.5 in 2022, up from 76.4 in 2021 though below the pre-pandemic rate of 78.8 in 2019. CDC data isn’t yet available for 2023. Death rates fell for all age groups 15 and older, although infant mortality increased .
COVID fell from the third to fourth leading cause of death in 2022, trailing heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries.
Opioid crisis may be turning a corner Drug overdose deaths declined in 2023 and are falling even faster this year, according to preliminary CDC data. While public health officials don’t have a firm fix on what’s driving it, the increased availability of naloxone and the end of pandemic-era social isolation and stress could be factors.
Cancer treatments improving The odds of surviving cancer keep improving.
The five-year relative survival rate for all cancers combined has increased from 49% for diagnoses during the mid-1970s to 69% from 2013–2019, per the American Cancer Society.
The development of targeted therapies has led to especially rapid improvements for cancers affecting the blood, bone marrow and lymph systems, and for melanoma.
Still, delays in diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic and disruptions in employment and insurance could dent that progress.
More sobering is a steady uptick in cancer diagnoses in Gen X and millennials, who are more likely than previous generations to develop conditions including breast, liver and pancreatic cancers.
Sedentary lifestyles, environmental factors and obesity may be contributing, although the picture is probably more complicated.
Obesity slows after decades of increase As far as obesity goes, a staggering four in 10 Americans are obese, but the obesity rate is no longer rising.
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