Life expectancy in U.S. rises, CDC reports as 2018 mortality figures are finalized

PROVIDENCE -- For the first time in four years, life expectancy in the United States rose in 2018, a welcome development attributable in part to the first decline in drug-overdose deaths in 28 years.

Helping drive the trend was Rhode Island, where overdose deaths dropped from 2017 to 2018, albeit slightly.

These statistics and related data were reported publicly for the first time Thursday by the National Center for Health Statistics, a division of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which just completed the 2018 numbers. Last year's data is not yet finalized.

The CDC report, "Mortality in the United States: 2018," shows that the age-adjusted death rate in the country decreased from 731.9 deaths per 100,000 population in 2017 to 723.6 in 2018. As a result, life expectancy at birth increased to 78.7 years, the best since 2014, when life expectancy was 78.9 years. In 2017, life expectancy was 78.6 years, according to the CDC.

"Over half the increase in life expectancy in 2018 was due to declines in mortality from cancer and accidents/unintentional injuries," the CDC reported. Death rates from heart disease, stroke, diabetes and Alzheimer's disease also declined. Deaths by suicide, and from influenza and pneumonia, however, rose.

According to the CDC, there were 67,367 drug overdose deaths in 2018 in the United States, compared to 70,237 in 2017, a decline of 4.1%. But two sub-categories of overdose rose: deaths involving use of cocaine and deaths involving fentanyl and related synthetic opioids.

In Rhode Island, the CDC reported, deaths from drug overdoses dropped from 320 in 2017 to 317 in 2018, a decline of three that the agency did not judge to be a "significant change." Large drops in states including Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, which have been particularly hard-hit by the opioid crisis, were deemed to be significant.

Led by the Department of Health, Rhode Island has moved aggressively to address the opioid and suicide crises. Among the initiatives that have demonstrated success is BHLink, launched in late 2018.

The state Health Department does not have data on life expectancy, according to spokesman Joseph Wendelken. And while he did not have access on Wednesday to the CDC report, which had not yet been publicly released, he said the Health Department recorded 314 deaths by drug overdose in 2018, three fewer than the CDC number, but Wendelken says the CDC uses a different method of counting.

Read the CDC report: www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db355-h.pdf

-- gwmiller@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7380

On Twitter: @gwaynemiller

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