[Image courtesy of CDC]
A CDC research paper published in JAMA notes that U.S. life expectancy dropped to about 73 for men and 79 for women between 2019 and 2021.That constitutes a 3-year reduction for men and a 2.3-year dip for women, according to provisional estimates from the National Center for Health Statistics.
For the sake of comparison, life expectancy for men was 73.1 years for males and 79.1 years for females in 1996.
Researchers typically measure changes in life expectancy in months rather than years.
COVID-19 drove about three-quarters of the recent drop in life expectancy, CDC estimated.
Unintentional injuries, including fatal drug overdoses, were the second-largest contributor to the drop in life expectancy.
[Figure courtesy of CDC]
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