U.S. Life Expectancy down again; a trend not seen since WW1

[Ohiogal]

So much winning .....

Maybe if we could afford to have health insurance .... as it is only the well off can afford it .... even those who have it cannot afford dental care or mental health counseling.

I find this totally appalling. Why do people keep voting for Republicans?!

**********************

Life expectancy in the United States declined again in 2017, the government said Thursday in a bleak series of reports that showed a nation still in the grip of escalating drug and suicide crises.

The data continued the longest sustained decline in expected life span at birth in a century, an appalling performance not seen in the United States since 1915 through 1918. That four-year period included World War I and a flu pandemic that killed 675,000 people in the United States and perhaps 50 million worldwide.

Public health and demographic experts reacted with alarm to the release of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s annual statistics, which are considered a reliable barometer of a society’s health. In most developed nations, life expectancy has marched steadily upward for decades.

The geographic disparity in overdose deaths continued in 2017. West Virginia again led the nation with 57.8 deaths per 100,000 people, followed by Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia. Nebraska, by contrast, had just 8.1 drug overdose deaths per 100,000 residents.

More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-life-expectancy-declines-again-a-dismal-trend-not-seen-since-world-war-i/2018/11/28/ae58bc8c-f28c-11e8-bc79-68604ed88993_story.html?utm_term=.215ce72de9cd&wpisrc=nl_rainbow&wpmm=1

Other factors in the life expectancy decline include a spike in deaths from flu last winter and increases in deaths from chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alz­heimer’s disease, strokes and suicide. Deaths from heart disease, the No. 1 killer of Americans, which had been declining until 2011, continued to level off.

[TEB]

1. GOP taking us back in time assholes

[Girard442]

2. The only hope of getting a society that will treat YOU well is...

...to seek a society that treats everybody well. If you support a society that promises to treat some people badly, it's pretty inevitable it will treat you badly. It's kind of a Golden Rule -- with teeth.

[Squinch]

3. How do you die of Alzheimer's?

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. Health Conditions Linked to Alzheimer's

As Alzheimer’s advances to later stages, it impacts a person’s ability to swallow and balance, and control their bowels and bladder. At that point, individuals become susceptible to several serious health problems, including:

Depression: Lack of social interaction and cognitive decline may lead to depression as well as mood swings, aggressive or violent behavior, delusions and personality changes.
Fall-related injuries: Poor balance can lead to falls and related injuries, including fractures and serious head injuries.
Immobility: Seniors with late stage Alzheimer’s are often bedridden, putting them at risk for bed sores, loss of muscle function and infections.
Malnutrition and dehydration: The more difficult it becomes to ingest food or water, the more likely a senior with Alzheimer’s may become malnourished or suffer dehydration.
Pneumonia: The inability to swallow correctly increases a person’s chances of inhaling or aspirating food or liquid into their lungs; aspiration pneumonia is the leading cause of death for people with Alzheimer’s.
Urinary tract infections: Loss of bladder control may require insertion of a urinary catheter, which increases risks for urinary tract infections.

https://www.alzheimers.net/alzheimers-health-ailments/

[Squinch]

6. Thank you. I had no idea.

[wishstar]

7. Thanks for this link- my f-in-law had more serious physical problems rather than memory/behavior

My father-in-law was unsteady on his feet, falling often and developed urinary incontinence. He lost a lot of weight due to difficulty swallowing where it could take him hours each day to eat small meals of soft foods. He died from resulting lung problems- aspiration pneumonia.

However even in his final weeks with poor hearing and difficulty speaking, he was still able to recognize family members and interact appropriately with a sense of humor. That is often not the case with Alzheimer's

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. To put that WV overdose figure in perspective, for the world it'd be the 3rd biggest cause of death

According to the World Health Organization, the ten leading causes of death in 2015 (ranked by death per 100,000 population) were:[17]

Ischaemic heart disease (119 per 100,000 population)
Stroke (85 per 100,000 population)
Lower respiratory infections (43 per 100,000 population)
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (43 per 100,000 population)
Trachea/bronchus/lung cancers (23 per 100,000 population)
Diabetes mellitus (22 per 100,000 population)
Alzheimer's disease and other dementias (21 per 100,000 population)
Diarrhoeal diseases (19 per 100,000 population)
Tuberculosis (19 per 100,000 population)
Road traffic accidents (10 per 100,000 population)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortality_rate

[bullwinkle428]

8. NPR pointed out that drug overdoses and suicides clearly jumped from 2016

to 2017. Chump is MAGA in so many wonderful ways.