Middle-aged white Americans are dying at increasing rates and half a million people are dead who should not be, according to a new report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The study, co-authored by Anne Case and Angus Deaton, analyzed death rates for men and women aged 45 to 54 in the United States, a range often categorized as "middle-age." The duo, both economics professors at Princeton, then compared the data to those death rates found within other domestic racial categories and those seen in similarly wealthy nations.
Black, Hispanic and older Americans (65 and up) have continued to see longer lives, as have those in Sweden, Australia, Germany and other rich nations, but middle-aged white Americans have not. The results represented a "marked increase" in mortality between 1999 and 2013, and the trends seem to "reverse decades of progress in mortality and was unique to the United States."
Well isn't that inter......hey wait a minute I'M a middle aged white American!
So what the hell are they dying from?
The study links the increase in mortality to a slew of problematic issues seen throughout American society, including an increase in drug and alcohol abuse and an increase in suicide rates. White men had the highest suicide rate of any demographic in 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The authors also draw a stark link between a rise in opioid availability, including the growing problem of cheap heroin. They theorize that an uptick in "the epidemic of pain, suicide and drug overdoses" may be tied to 2008's financial crisis, and say many baby-boomers are among the first to live a harsher life than their parents.
Phew! Okay well I should be fine more or less, because I am not much of a drinker, and I am much too poor to support a heroin addiction.
Besides right before typing this I finished the second of the three workouts I have planned for today and am currently sucking down a blueberry and coconut milk protein shake. So I am doing what I can to keep the grim reaper at bay.
As for suicide, yeah that's not my thing.
I have always considered my life to be a gift, and I have no plans on shuffling off this moral coil until they drag me kicking and screaming into the void.
On the bright side, and yes I know there is not much of a bright side, this is doing nothing to help the GOP demographic.
Please don't go anywhere!
ReplyDeleteThose damned DEATH PANELS!! *snicker*
ReplyDeleteTG. I'll believe America has a future when Fox News breathes its last breath. Fuck Rupert.
ReplyDeleteWell, you know damn well whose fault this is, don't you?
ReplyDeleteMildred
Stress caused by Obama cause he's persecuting them, according to the pee pond.
DeleteMildred--yeah, that Kenyan guy and his busybody wife who keep forcing us and our children to eat more healthily...
ReplyDeleteThe stress of a proper diet is hell. Better to eat like a Palin. Long live Taco Bell Supreme and processed food. Viva mac'n cheese!!
DeleteAnonymous 7:17 AM
DeleteThe stress of a proper diet is hell. Better to eat like a Palin. Long live Taco Bell Supreme and processed food. Viva mac'n cheese!!
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LOL....You made me laugh.
More Details:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34714842
Have they accounted for the overwork required to just-to-keep already stressful jobs? The depression encountered when you realize that you are earning less than you were a decade ago, and have to work ever harder while falling behind more and more? The knowledge that you are not only replaceable by a slave laborer on the other side of the globe, but that your position will be cut any time the paid-in-stock-options CEO decides that she needs a few more millions? (Thanks, Carly and Meg!)
ReplyDeleteThe death rate is high for middle age white guys with only a high school education. Definitely not good news for the GOP.
ReplyDeleteTwo words: Golden Corral.
ReplyDeleteFactor into that equation the high amounts of prescription medicines the average middle aged person takes - they trust the FDA and their doctors to actually evaluate the need for all those prescriptions. Each prescription drug has side effects, for which they prescribe ANOTHER drug.
ReplyDeleteMy 93 y/o mother was taking exactly 6 prescriptions when she died. Had asthma, emphysema, osteoporosis, congenital heart failure and PAIN. The average middle ager is taking much more than that.
At 67, I take 2 prescriptions, unenthusiatically.
Well, there is the alternative.
DeleteHey, our children (Gen X, and in some cases, Millenials) are blaming our Boomer generation for cheating them out of their future fair share of Social Security and Medicare...and they aren't even close to retirement yet. Wah, wah, wah. If this older demographic is dying off early, our kids may not have to worry about their SS or Medicare benefits. There will be more than enough for them (unless the US government starts another war and borrows another Trillion from the SS Trust Fund).Of course our offspring need to find out what is killing us so it won't happen to them too. Maybe the cause is something brought back by the astronauts from outer space (It Came From Outer Space), or maybe it's because Big Pharma wants a cheap way to test it's dangerous new drugs to avoid lengthy and expensive human trials, or just maybe it's because our children are scaring us into an early grave.
ReplyDeleteHmm.
ReplyDeleteI was going to suggest a combination of high fructose corn syrup, sedentary behavior in front of Fox news and brain aneurism from high blood pressure brought on by Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh.
Huh. I'm surprised.
ReplyDeleteWe need the people of Virginia B from C4P age and mindset to die off...not this age group!!
Surprising.
It is my age group too.
Saw this on Rachel last night. You'll be impressed I guarantee it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2015/11/2/9659798/chris-christie-war-on-drugs
"baby-boomers are among the first to live a harsher life than their parents"
ReplyDeleteYou can blame the Republicans for that, but of course, a majority of baby boomers voted for those Republican policies and politicians. And as the selfish baby boomers die off, they leave future Americans their 20 trillion (and counting) dollar debt. No surprise from a spoiled, selfish generation, especially compared to their more compassionate parents generation. Boomers were always out for their own good time, no matter what the consequences. Future Americans will be to broke to fix the mess they have been left. Lets hear that 40 year old Republican chat again, "NO New Taxes!!!!!!"
That's Gen X. And everything you said describes Gen X more than Baby Boomers. The Boomers are all around 60 years old now. The Gen Xers are in the 40-50 range now.
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