Good News: U.S. Death Rate Resumes Falling

Rose last year as a result of drug overdosing and stalled progress on heart disease

Simon Jasineviciene/Dreamstime

Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the mortality rate for Americans had ticked up, breaking the general trend toward falling death rates. The uptick was the result of stalling improvements in cardiac deaths and higher mortality from drug overdosing. Measured as the number of annual deaths per 100,000 Americans, the CDC reports that "the crude death rate for all causes was 899.1 in the first quarter of 2016, which is lower than the rate in the first quarter of 2015 (919.5). The age-adjusted death rate for the first quarter was also lower in 2016 than in 2015 (772.3 and 800.9, respectively)."

In addition, the CDC notes that "the 12-month ending death rate for all causes was 834.9 for the first quarter of 2016, similar to the rate in the same quarter of 2015 (835.4). After age-adjustment, the death rate was 721.5 for the year ending with the first quarter of 2016, lower than the death rate for the year ending with the first quarter of 2015 (731.2)."

As background, keep in mind that in 1900, the annual death rate was 1,700 per 100,000 Americans, falling to 950 per 100,000 by 1960.

Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

The uptick was the result of stalling improvements in cardiac deaths...

Make American cardiac deaths great again.

[Swiss Servator]

Just...havin'...a...heart...attack

*pounds chest*

/Superfan

[Hugh Akston]

Seems to me that the death rate is pretty steady from year to year.

[Zeb]

So, everybody dies every year? I would have thought I'd notice that.

[GroundTruth]

"with a bump and a moan,
and an 'ugh' and a groan,
death comes...."

.....to all

(Stranger in a Strange Land.... I can't remember the rest and can't find it on line, but I think Jubal writes this one last little ditty as he decides that it is time to git).

The death rate is precisely 1 for humans (unless you are of the Christian sort, in which it is about 0.9999999999, to date).

[Brett L]

Something like 1/6th of all humans ever born are alive today, so you're only at .85 or so.

[AddictionMyth]

Expect it to tick back up when Trumpkins realize they will be subjects of Cankles.

[commodious warned u bucko]

Bad news: CDC, DHS underfunded, no slack to be found for fighting Zika.

[Microaggressor]

A weight-loss program for truck drivers, where researchers give them motivational phone calls while they are on the road

Wait, isn't that dangerous?

[Swiss Servator]

"Hello, this the CD calling...."

*HONK*

*SCREEEETCH*

*BOOM*

[Microaggressor]

The primary goal of the project is to "design and develop a mobile phone game for young Kenyans ages 11-14 focused on increasing age at sexual debut..."

That game already exists, and it's called World of Warcraft.

Researchers believe the game could reduce unintended pregnancy, "challenge harmful gender norms and HIV stigma, and foster dialogue with parents and guardians."

After nobody plays their game, at least they'll get a warm fuzzy feeling of having fostered dialogue about social justice for the people who need it most.

[A frilly pink thing]

I've met plenty of Americans. This isn't good news.

[Rich]

Don't worry. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria will fix that.

[Eric Bana]

Thank goodness.

[Jackand Ace]

Good news indeed.

In a related story, WHO says that there will be an additional 250k premature deaths between 2030 and 2050, the result of climate change.

"Overall, climate change is projected to have substantial adverse impacts on future mortality, even considering only a subset of the expected health effects," the agency said in its latest "Quantitative Risk Assessment of the Effects of Climate Change on Selected Causes of Death." And those impacts are expected to be felt even "even under optimistic scenarios of future socioeconomic development."

[Jackand Ace]

Link

http://www.scientificamerican......e-changes/

[Swiss Servator]

SPREAD THE WORD! TO THE PRIVATE JETS TO GO TELL THE WORLD!

/celebrity

[Jackand Ace]

Using a keyboard. But thanks.

[Swiss Servator]

You might be about as far from a celebrity as I can determine. Maybe shriek. But top two, yes.

[Microaggressor]

while mortality rises from things like mosquito-borne malaria, heat exposure and other conditions, especially in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Fuck! If only we had the technology to deal with those things!

[BearOdinson]

The study is already biased! It is only studying the possible negative outcomes of climate change. There is nothing in the study about the possibility of reducing premature deaths because of fewer cases of death by exposure, longer and wider growing seasons, etc.

[R C Dean]

Over 55 million people die, worldwide, every year.

So, that's an increase in the death rate of less than one half of one percent. O.M.G.

[Swiss Servator]

I wouldn't even buy into the premise they are pushing.

[Jackand Ace]

Expendable. There goes libertarian values on the worth of every individual.

[Bra Ket]

"For vulnerable populations like the elderly and shut-ins, just getting people into cooler, cleaner air could be the difference between life and death"

Well at least they are concerned about the effect on libertarians.

[A frilly pink thing]

"WHO says that there will be an additional 250k premature deaths between 2030 and 2050, the result of climate change."

Why would I care that the WHO, an obviously partisan organization that is pushing a political agenda has made yet another prediction, especially in light of their many failed predictions of years past?

Hell, they "predicted" they would eradicate malaria if we funded them. It's still killing millions of people every year. MILLIONS EVERY YEAR, not 250k over two decades.

They lied about meat. They lied about alcohol. They lied about carbs. They failed to deal with Ebola, Zika, and countless other actual problems while chasing the spectre of man made climate change, guns, and other issues that are not in their purview.

So, again, why would I care that an organization that has made it's living on lying and scare mongering decided to lie and scare monger some more?

[Jackand Ace]

You don't! Have fun!

[Swiss Servator]

You do! Stay mendacious!

[Brett L]

How many if voluntary cutbacks lead to large scale wars?

[Tamfang]

If 900 out of 100 000 die in an average year, that seems to imply a life expectancy of 111 years. Where did I go wrong?