US life expectancy fell by a little more than a month last year from 2014, to 78.8 years, according to a report from the National Center for Health Statistics.
It’s the first decline in more than two decades.
The culprits for the dip, the report says, were increases in mortality from heart disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, unintentional injuries, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease and suicide. Not surprisingly, that group plus cancer and the flu make up the top 10 causes of death in the US.
The last time life expectancy fell was in 1993 in the midst of the HIV/Aids epidemic.
Report author Jiaquan Xu says this time the cause is not so clear.
