A new Florida Atlantic University-led study examined rising ‘deaths of despair’ trends. Deaths of despair include substance-related deaths and suicide.
The researchers looked at data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of adults aged 25-74 from 1999-2021. According to a release, they “used the previously defined and widely accepted definition of deaths of despair as a constellation of 19 underlying causes which included: chronic hepatitis; liver fibrosis/cirrhosis; suicide/sequelae of suicide; poisoning (accidental or undetermined intent) or exposure to nonopioid analgesics, antipyretics, rheumatic, antiepileptic’s, sedative hypnotics, antiparkinson and psychotropic drugs; narcotics, psychodysleptics, drugs acting on the central nervous system; and alcohol.”
The study shows that annual deaths of despair more than doubled from 1999-2021. Additionally, “by 2021, deaths of despair would have become the fifth leading cause of death in the U.S.” The number of American Indian or Alaska Natives who died from this cause was highest in 2022.
The study is published in Advances in Preventive Medicine and Health Care.
