Mortality from Suicide, Chronic Liver Disease, and Drug Poisonings among Middle-Aged U.S. White Men and Women, 1980–2013

Abstract

Recent increases in all-cause mortality rates among the middle-aged U.S. white population have been explained in terms of elevated levels of midlife distress. This brief report provides evidence against this explanation for recent mortality trends among U.S. white men and women. Official mortality rates for U.S. white men and women aged 45–54 from suicide, chronic liver disease, drug poisonings, and other “extrinsic” causes of death (i.e., causes external to the body) between 1980 and 2013 are examined. Results suggest that recent increases in extrinsic mortality among the middle-aged U.S. white population are overwhelmingly driven by rapid increases in drug-related mortality. The contributions of chronic liver disease and suicide to U.S. white men’s and women’s mortality levels have been fairly stable for the past 30 years. Further, large gender differences in extrinsic mortality trends are observed. These two findings are inconsistent with the explanation that distress among the middle-aged U.S. white population is a common cause driving trends in U.S. white mortality.

Notes

1. Analyses comparing mortality trends among all U.S. white men and women 1999–2013 to mortality trends among non-Hispanic white men and women aged 45–54 during the years 1999–2013 show very similar mortality trends from all “extrinsic” causes of death, suicide, chronic liver disease, and drug overdoses.