A century of U.S. statistics finds mortality rates and life expectancy were much worse for Black Americans during pre-pandemic years than they have been for white people during the COVID-19 crisis.
Tests for the immune response to the coronavirus are revealing thousands of people who were infected but never got severely ill. The findings suggest the virus is less deadly than it first appeared.
Life expectancy in the U.S. has taken a significant downward turn. This is especially true in Ohio and West Virginia, which have the highest rates of overdose deaths among people ages 25 to 64.
Geographic inequality in life span is growing in the United States, with people in some counties living more than 20 years longer than those in others.
Middle-aged white people without college degrees are increasingly likely to die of suicide or drug and alcohol abuse. The lack of a pathway to solid jobs is one reason, two economists say.
The link isn't definite, but it matches other research that suggests that difficult experiences in childhood affect physical health years down the line. Just how that happens remains a mystery.
We're told that it's important to keep body mass index below 25. But a study finds that for the lowest risk of death, the magic number has inched up to 27 — in the "overweight" category.
A rise in suicides plus an epidemic of overdoses from prescription painkillers and heroin are key factors that have undone a long-term improvement in death rates. A weak economy may have contributed.
An analysis of mortality records uncovered the most distinctive cause of death in each state. In Texas, it's tuberculosis. In Maine, the flu. And in Nevada, it's "legal intervention."
