Death rate in US among white middle-age Americans on the rise: study

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A new study has uncovered some depressing data regarding middle-aged white Americans. The results indicate that a rising number of white Americans from the 45-54 age range die due to substance abuse, alcohol abuse or suicide.

"We have come to expect mortality rates in middle age to continue to decline, which they did throughout most of the 20th century...it was really a surprise to see a sustained period when mortality rates actually increased (among middle-aged white Americans)," said Anne Case on CNN.

Princeton economists Angus Deaton and his wife Anne Case were the chief researchers in this study. They used data taken from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the NPR reported.

Although overall mortality rates in the United States have dropped by 2 percent each year from 1999 to 2013, the researchers discovered that mortality rates for Americans within the 45-54 age range actually rose by half a percent every year.

The researchers noted that this equates to half a million deaths. This is roughly the same number of deaths caused by HIV/AIDS, as reported by Times Insider.

What surprised the authors more was the cause for the rise in mortality rates. According to the NY Times, the death toll was not due to heart disease or diabetes but because of substance abuse or by committing suicide.

The researchers discovered that more poorly educated middle-aged Americans were committing suicide or have died due to an overdose to drugs or alcohol. The high death rates posted for this specific group has affected the death rates for the entire age group.

In a report by CNBC, the authors speculate that the baby boomers have realized that they have been less successful than their parents. With no college degree and slow productivity levels, middle-aged Americans have been unable to earn better wages.

However, the authors also noted that this is not unique to the United States. Similar situations can also be found in other developed nations but have not caused a spike in death rates.

"It is difficult to find modern settings with survival losses of this magnitude," Dartmouth economists Jonathan Skinner and Ellen Meara commented on the Deaton-Case study. The NY Times says the study will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Although there are people who do die from substance abuse, the general perception is that people are healthier now than before. A Harvard health care economist, David M. Cutler, said the results from this study challenges that perception.