Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'We Should Be Really Alarmed': U.S. Life Expectancy Drops Due To Staggering Rate Of Overdose Deaths
The Washington Post: Fueled By Drug Crisis, U.S. Life Expectancy Declines For A Second Straight Year
American life expectancy at birth declined for the second consecutive year in 2016, fueled by a staggering 21 percent rise in the death rate from drug overdoses, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Thursday. (Bernstein and Ingraham, 12/21)
NPR: Life Expectancy Drops As Opioid Deaths Surge
"I'm not prone to dramatic statements," says Robert Anderson, chief of the mortality statistics branch at the National Center for Health Statistics. "But I think we should be really alarmed. The drug overdose problem is a public health problem and it needs to be addressed. We need to get a handle on it." (Stein, 12/21)
The Wall Street Journal: Overdose Deaths Drive Down U.S. Life Expectancy—Again
The last time the U.S. experienced a back-to-back fall in life expectancy, in 1962 and 1963, a bad flu season was to blame, Bob Anderson, chief of mortality statistics at CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, said in an interview. The previous consecutive-year decline was in 1925-26, which was likely due to infectious disease, he said. (Whalen, 12/21)
Stat: Life Expectancy In The U.S. Is Falling — And Overdose Deaths Are Soaring
Heart disease was the leading cause of death, followed by cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease, and suicide. One key point: Unintentional injuries climbed to the third leading cause of death in 2016, swapping spots with chronic lower respiratory diseases. It’s worth noting that most drug overdose deaths are classified as unintentional injuries. (Thielking, 12/21)
Bloomberg: U.S. Life Expectancy Drops For Second Year Amid Opioid Crisis
Despite the bleak picture of recent years, Americans have enjoyed big gains in life expectancy over the long term from public health improvements, new medical treatments, and expanded access to care. Life expectancy at birth is almost a decade higher today than it was in 1960, an era before social programs like Medicare and life-extending drugs like statins. (Tozzi, 12/21)
The Washington Post: CDC Releases Grim New Opioid Overdose Figures: ‘We’re Talking About More Than An Exponential Increase’
The national opioid epidemic escalated in 2016, driven by an unprecedented surge in deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opiates, according to new data released today by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. More than 42,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses in 2016, a 28 percent increase over 2015. The number of people fatally overdosing on fentanyl and other synthetic opiates more than doubled, from 9,580 in 2015 to 19,413 in 2016. Deaths due to heroin were up nearly 20 percent, and deaths from other opiate painkillers, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, were up 14 percent. (Ingraham, 12/21)
In other news on the opioid crisis —
The New York Times: As Overdoses Mount, Cities And Counties Rush To Sue Opioid Makers
Citing a spike in overdose deaths, growing demands for drug treatment and a strained budget, officials here in Summit County filed a lawsuit late Wednesday against companies that make or distribute prescription opioids. On Monday, Smith County in Tennessee did the same. And on Tuesday, nine cities and counties in Michigan announced similar suits. Cities, counties and states across the country are turning to the courts in the spiraling opioid crisis. What began a few years ago with a handful of lawsuits has grown into a flood of claims that drug companies improperly marketed opioids or failed to report suspiciously large orders. (Smith and Davey, 12/20)
Boston Globe: Babies Born Exposed To Drugs In New Hampshire Has Skyrocketed Over Past Decade, Researcher Says
Over the course of a decade, the number of babies born already exposed to drugs in New Hampshire quintupled, according to a researcher at the University of New Hampshire. ...The syndrome appears most often in babies whose mothers were taking opioids during pregnancy, said Kristin Smith, a family demographer at UNH and the author of the report. (Meyers, 12/20)
