Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 31 January 2020
For 1st time in 4 years, US life expectancy rises — a little

By MIKE STOBBE by less than 1%.
AP Medical Writer — Death rates also
NEW YORK (AP) — Life ex- dropped for stroke, Al-
pectancy in the United zheimer's disease, chronic
States is up for the first time lower respiratory diseases
in four years. and unintentional injuries,
The increase is small — just which includes drug over-
a month — but marks at doses.
least a temporary halt to a — Americans who were 65
downward trend. The rise in 2018 are expected to
is due to lower death rates live another 19 years and
for cancer and drug over- six months, on average.
doses. — The infant mortality rate
"Let's just hope it contin- fell more than 2%, to 1 in
ues," said Robert Anderson, 177 births.
who oversees the report — The suicide death rate hit
released Thursday by the its highest level since 1941
Centers for Disease Control — about 14 per 100,000.
and Prevention. The rate peaked during
The latest calculation is for the Depression in 1932 then
2018 and factors in current mostly declined until 2000.
death trends and other is- It's been rising most years
sues. On average, an infant since then.
born that year is expected In this Friday, Jan. 24, 2020 file photo, two joggers run through Grandview Cemetery in Johnstown, The U.S. has the highest sui-
to live about 78 years and 8 Pa. cide rate of 11 wealthy na-
months, the CDC said. Associated Press tions studied, according to
For males, it's about 76 years a separate report released
and 2 months; for females said Rebecca Siegel, a re- driven by dips in 14 states, boomers. Thursday by the private
81 years and 1 month. searcher for the American the CDC's Anderson said. Other findings: Commonwealth Fund. That
For decades, U.S. life ex- Cancer Society. Those include states where — The 10 leading causes of report also found U.S. life
pectancy was on the up- Most of the improvement is overdose deaths have death remained the same, expectancy is two years
swing, rising a few months in lung cancer because of been most common, like with heart disease at No. lower that the average
nearly every year. But from fewer smokers and better Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ken- 1. The death rate for heart for the 10 other wealthy
2014 to 2017, it fell slightly treatments, she said. tucky, and West Virginia. disease declined slightly, nations.q
or held steady. That was Also striking was the drop in In Ohio's Hamilton County,
blamed largely on surges drug overdose deaths that which includes Cincinna-
in overdose deaths and sui- had skyrocketed through ti, overdose deaths fell in Bird rehabilitation center treated
cides. 2017. The death rate fell 4% 2018 and preliminary data record numbers last year
Suicides continued to in- in 2018 and the number of indicates another drop
crease in 2018, as did deaths dropped to about last year. County health QUECHEE, Vt. (AP) — A Ver-
deaths from the flu and 67,400. commissioner Tim Ingram mont bird rehabilitation
pneumonia during what Deaths from heroin and credited efforts to try to ex- center treated a record
turned out to be an unusu- prescription painkillers went pand access to treatment, number of wild birds last
ally bad flu year. But de- down, however, deaths and to widely distribute year, staff with the institute
clines in some other causes from other drugs — fen- the overdose reversal drug said.
of death — most notably tanyl, cocaine and meth Narcan. The Vermont Institute
cancer and drug overdos- — continued to go up. And "We almost saturated our of Natural Science in
es — were enough to over- preliminary data for the first community with Narcan," Quechee reported that
come all that, according half of 2019 suggest the he said. staffers treated a record to-
to the report. overall decline in overdose Nationally, for all causes tal of 705 wild birds in 2019
Cancer is the nation's No. deaths is already slowing of death, more than 2.8 at the institute’s Center for
2 killer, blamed for about down. million Americans died in Wild Bird Rehabilitation,
600,000 deaths a year, so It's still a crisis, said Kather- 2018. That's about 26,000 and that 77 of those were
even slight changes in the ine Keyes, a Columbia Uni- more than the year before, barred owls. In 2018, the
cancer death rate can versity researcher. "But the the CDC report found. The institute treated 45 barred
have a big impact. The fact that we have seen the number went up even as owls, out of 652 birds total,
rate fell more than 2%, first year where there's not the death rate went down, Valley News reported Sat-
matching the drop in 2017. an additional increase is because the population is urday. This 2019 photo provided by
"I'm a little surprised that encouraging." growing and a large group The weather and an in- Vermont Institute of Natural
rapid pace is continuing," The national decline was are retirement age baby crease in public aware- Science shows a baby
ness contributed to the barred owl that was brought
higher numbers, said Grae to the Center for Wild Bird
Rehabilitation at the Vermont
O’Toole, the lead wildlife Institute of Natural Science's
keeper at the institute. in Quechee, Vt., after the tree
“We weren’t expecting his nest cavity was in was cut
the influx that we received down.
(last) winter,” she said Associated Press
“They’re just not able to ery and release rate of the
punch through the ice to 77 barred owls that were
get to prey on their own.” treated because they
O’Toole said the staff was often have very severe
happy with the 55% recov- injuries.q