A few months ago two Princeton economists, analyzing death certificates, discovered a disturbing trend: mortality rates were rising for whites age 45 to 54. Now the New York Times has taken a look at the issue, analyzing 60 million death certificates spanning the years from 1990 to 2014. The Times found something even more disturbing: rising or flattening death rates for all white adults under age 65. "The analysis shows that the rise in white mortality extends well beyond the 45-to-54 age group documented by a pair of Princeton economists in a research paper that startled policy makers and politicians two months ago," reports the Times.
As with the earlier study, the rise in mortality is especially pronounced among less-educated whites and driven by drug (legal and illegal) overdoses. For those who would like to analyze trends in drug poisoning deaths, visit the National Center for Health Statistics' data visualization gallery to examine and download national, state, and county level data from 2002 to 2014.
Source: New York Times, Drug Overdoses Propel Rise in Mortality Rates of Young Whites
No comments:
Post a Comment