The term “deaths of despair” emerged in the public consciousness following a seminal study showing a reversal and yearslong rise in all-cause mortality among middle-aged whites in the U.S that was driven heavily by deaths from suicide, alcohol and drug overdoses.
Lower educational attainment was found to be a key characteristic associated with this increase. At the same time, mortality among middle-aged Black and Hispanic individuals in the U.S. was falling.
Now, new findings published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry reflect a significant shift in deaths of despair among middle-aged adults. The study tracked rates of mortality from suicide, alcoholic liver disease and drug overdose from 1999 to 2022 among people 45 to 54 years old. Researchers found that in 2013, the rate of these deaths among whites was approximately double that of Blacks, at 72.15 per 100,000 population compared with 36.24 per 100,000.
But by 2022, the rate of deaths of despair among middle-aged Blacks had nearly tripled to 103.81 per 100,000, topping that of whites at 102.63 per 100,000. The study points to increasing drug overdose deaths among Black........