Photo by Chad Madden from Unsplash
BOSTON — A recent study is revealing the dire state of public health in the United States. In comparison to other wealthy nations, the U.S. death rate far outpaces America’s peers — leading researchers to say that the country is actually “experiencing a crisis of early death.”
Researchers from the Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) found that more than one million U.S. deaths a year — including many young and working-age adults — could be avoided if the country had mortality rates similar to other high-income nations.
In 2021, 1.1 million deaths would have been averted if the U.S. had mortality rates similar to other wealthy nations. The study refers to these excess deaths as “Missing Americans,” because these deaths reflect people who would still be alive if the U.S. death rate was equal to its peer countries.
“The number of Missing Americans in recent years is unprecedented in modern times,” says Dr. Jacob Bor, the study’s lead and corresponding author and associate professor of global health and epidemiology at BUSPH, in a media release.
Nearly 50 percent of all Missing Americans died before age 65 in 2020 and 2021. The study found that the level of excess mortality among working-age adults is particularly stark.
“Think of people you know who have passed away before reaching age 65. Statistically, half of them would still be alive if the U.S. had the mortality rates of our peers,” Dr. Bor said. “The U.S. is experiencing a crisis of early death that is unique among wealthy nations.”
The COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a sharp spike in mortality in the U.S. — more so than in other countries — but the new findings show that the number of excess U.S. deaths has been accelerating over the last four decades. Dr. Bor and the team analyzed trends in U.S. deaths from 1933 to 2021, including the impact of COVID-19, and then compared these trends with age-specific mortality rates in Canada, Japan, Australia, and 18 European nations.
The U.S. had lower mortality rates than its peer during World War II and its aftermath. During the 1960s and 1970s, the U.S. had mortality rates similar to other wealthy nations, but the number of Missing Americans began to increase year by year starting in the 1980s, reaching 622,534 annual excess U.S. deaths by 2019. Deaths then spiked to 1,009,467 in 2020 and 1,090,103 in 2021 during the pandemic. From 1980 to 2021, there were a total of 13.1 million Missing Americans.
The researchers emphasize that this mortality crisis is a multiracial phenomenon and is not specific to minority groups. Black and Native Americans are overrepresented in these measures, with mortality rates in early adulthood (ages 15-44) that were five and eight times higher than the average of other wealthy nations.
The team also says that the history of structural racism in the U.S., including policies such as slavery and redlining, has contributed to racial and ethnic disparities in wealth and in access to education, housing, and health care that drive leading causes of worse mortality rates, particularly at young ages.
Still, two-thirds of the Missing Americans are White, a result of the larger population of White Americans, their older age distribution, and death rates that are significantly higher than other wealthy nations.
“Living in the U.S. is a risk factor for early death that is common across many U.S. racial and ethnic groups. Whereas most health disparities studies assess differences between U.S. racial/ethnic groups, such an approach renders the poor health of Whites invisible and grossly underestimates the health shortfall of minoritized groups,” Dr. Bor says.
“By using an international benchmark, we show that Americans of all races and ethnicities are adversely affected by the U.S. policy environment, which places a low priority on public health and social protections, particularly for low-income people.”
Accounting for future years of life lost due when a person dies prematurely, the team estimates that in 2021, excess U.S. mortality translated to 26.4 million years of life lost relative to the mortality rates of peer nations. They connect the large excess mortality burden to the failure of U.S. policy to adequately address major public health issues, including the opioid epidemic, gun violence, environmental pollution, economic inequality, food insecurity, and workplace safety.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated many of these issues, particularly among lower-income and minority groups, and now that most of the safety-net policies created during COVID-19 have expired, vulnerable groups have lost vital support.
“We waste hundreds of billions each year on health insurers’ profits and paperwork, while tens of millions can’t afford medical care, healthy food, or a decent place to live,” says Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, study senior author and Distinguished Professor at the School of Urban Public Health at Hunter College in New York. “Americans die younger than their counterparts elsewhere because when corporate profits conflict with health, our politicians side with the corporations.”
In comparison to the U.S., other countries also had higher vaccination uptake and mask policies during the Omicron wave, and this layered mitigation was associated with fewer COVID-19 cases.
The findings raise a number of urgent questions that will be critical to address in future research, says study co-author Dr. Andrew Stokes, assistant professor of global health at BUSPH.
“Which geographic areas are disproportionately responsible for the Missing Americans, and what were their causes of death? Answers to these questions may help to clarify policy solutions,” Dr. Stokes explains.
At the moment, Dr. Bor says he is not optimistic that mortality rates will reverse in the near future, even as COVID-related deaths continue to wane from their 2021 peak.
“The U.S. was already experiencing more than 600,000 Missing Americans annually before the pandemic began, and that number was increasing each year. There have been no significant policy changes since then to change this trajectory,” Dr. Bor adds.
“While COVID-19 brought new attention to public health, the backlash unleashed during the pandemic has undermined trust in government and support for expansive policies to improve population health,” Bor concludes. “This could be the most harmful long-term impact of the pandemic, because expansion of public policy to support health is exactly how our peer countries have attained higher life expectancy and better health outcomes.”
The study was published in the journal PNAS Nexus.
“We waste hundreds of billions each year on health insurers’ profits…” says Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, study senior author and Distinguished Professor at the School of Urban Public Health at Hunter College in New York. Waste? If companies cannot make a profit, they go out of business. Aha! The real agenda becomes clear. Steffie’s going to pay our costs, how nice!!
An aside – profits average about 3% of the purchase price of goods and services, the most efficient market structure ever to provide goods and services. Ever.
Exactly. The profit margin on health insurance companies averages 4%. This political activist posing as a scientist is the problem with academia in this country. It’s all a guise to institute socialist solutions.
Meanwhile U.S. health care costs almost twice that of most first world countries, and produces worse results.
LOL. Republican Americans are dying for their faith in Capitalism.
The world is laughing.
It’s mostly your “bros” dropping dead early.
Hi Vendicar Knobgoblin, Nice “Name” btw…a lot of people are leaving political party’s behind, just like religion. I am a Nurse, and I come here often to Educate myself, not to drink your Haterade.
I am 53 years old grew up dirt poor without a father, this is a third career for me.
I once read about a guy that killed himself during ww1 because he couldn’t deal with social upheaval and politics…How stupid.
I was in the Military(Infantry) & Law Enforcement(Border Inspector) for the first 9 years after I got my GED. I inevitably became Jaded as I love this country…. Instead of focusing on what is wrong(you cant fix it), change yourself from a Troll to a person who helps others. The answer to Globalism is Localism btw. Peace Out
And do you know why that is? Hint – It has to do with an interventionist regulatory and statutory environment that has successfully abstracted the practice of medicine from the patient. Patient outcomes take a back seat to adherence to standards of care, the cost of services is infinitely variable and the economic system that has grown around the regulatory and statutory requirements couldn’t be more inefficient.
Ralph loves to bend over for greedy companies. What a cuck you are.
High COVID vaccination rate = subsequent High Death Rate.
Theres no point in living a good long old age decades past 60 which is where I am at more or less. The problem is enforcement against Opiates necessary to fight accumulating Arthritis in two diagnosed forms and a newly developing RA version which is really going to hurt on bad days.
I already got the funeral home paid off, the hospital on notice with DNR and so on. I stopped ALL non trauma medical care, screenings and particularly vaxes for years. My body is what it will be for a few more years yet. If it killed me? Great. I go to see God with Happy Feet. No suffering for years and years and years.
I switched to Alcohol which will eventually accumulate problems in the liver and so on. So it does not matter anymore when doctors dont prescribe a damn thing. So a complete full stop from participating with doctors and medical anything was necessary. Just like my grand parents did back in between the war years when money got tight. They did without too. We will be fine.
60s? Wow … you’re tossing in the towel pretty early.
I’m also in my 60s and ready to meet the Lord – but – if my health holds where I can take care of myself, the final age is of no concern.
Alcohol only makes it worse. You need Marijuana. God bless.
Excellent long term suicide plan.
If only more Republicans were doing what you are, the world would become a better place much faster.
No thanks.
Keep doing it democrats!
Winning!
Good luck living in the third world you helped create, sod.
I feel for you. I had AR for three weeks but through a serendipitous occurrence I healed it.
Hmmm Covid 19 shots mandated. Early death. Coincidence ? I don’t think so
Democrats in charge.
Yup, with Dems now in charge, things should get better for the American inferior classes.
Where go my obamaphone, yo?
The only people that are doing better are members of the Biden crime family.
2 1/2 years in. So far so bad.
Inferior classes?? Perhaps you meant the Untermensch. Your stripes are showing.
Sounds about right. America’s politicians are among the most corrupt on the planet, beholden to their corporate overlords at the expense of those they ‘serve.’ Glad I don’t live there. I certainly do feel sorry for the American people though that they have to suffer so that their ruling class can afford their yachts.
Horribly written article dripping with bias. I am more offended that they think we are this stupid.
Couldn’t possibly be due drug addiction, suicide, gang violence or covid vax side effects
Amen
It’s all of the above and a crappy health care system.
America is no longer a viable nation.
Destroyed by Republican stupidity.
The world is laughing.
They are laughing at our decline to third world status. Ooha booga.
Hmmm. A crappy health care system. Courtesy of Barack Obama. Last time I checked, he’s a democrat. You need to get your facts straight dude. All your TDS is not a good thing.
Lol. One of these things is not like the others.
You people are STILL crying about the vaccine?!
Why am I not surprised by the comments from obvious Trumpers, or should I say oblivious morons? Did you read the article? Did you click out to the associated stories? Did FauxNews tell you to write stupid stuff? We as a nation, you guys would say “christian” nation, have failed the least of us. Health outcomes in your red states are terrible…obesity, maternal mortality, infant mortality, gun violence (don’t, the articles are there…you take out the “blue cities”, and red states still have ridiculously high gun deaths). You morons hear the word “socialism” and run to clutch your snowflake pearls and turn on Newsmax, when all of the industrialized nations that have happier, healthier populations rely on socialized democratic institutions that provide for the greater welfare of us all. Stupid, feckless, idiotic, evil cowards the lot of you.
Despite AOC being a graduate,the study seems right on the marx to me.
Gee, any stats on the mortality of those who decline pharma jabs or toxic drugs? Any health stats on the lives of those not consuming pharma crap?
Yes, those stats are easy to find. Those not vaccinated against COVID had death rates five times higher. Red counties with lower vaccine uptake had death rates 86% higher than blue counties.
Ignorance is deadly.
The clot shot is never mentioned as the highly vaxxed countries all have excessive mortality… And a new poison shot is available in the Fall..
I
Something is dreadfully wrong
Well said
EXACTLY THIS. Also, how about stats on people who got the clot shot and died, I mean it’s totally normal to see athletes all over the world suddenly collapsing and croaking on the field.
Obamacare. That started the modern day cull were experiencing, IMO, and it’s deliberate.
No notice of culture paying a role…
This is absolutely an irresponsible study/findings report with an obvious agenda. Equity in education access certainly isn’t working. Laws, taxes, statutes and epidemiological studies don’t seem to be working. How many other western populations make sure they have big screen televisions, latest cell phone/device technology before they have all their needs met? How many associate social media status with real life’s status? I’m sure Society’s recent inability (I’ll argue partly due to education system) to teach unselfish decision making or how to determine and execute the ‘right’ thing and/or discouraging listening to understand and placing everyone into groups and weaponizing politics has nothing to do with it. No one wants to make a difference, only point out what everyone else should do differently.
The study is straight forward concerning covid early deaths until they start adding other countries, other factors etc. Lets focus on deaths before covid and deaths after covid shall we. I notice when certain factors disclose information that’s not in this governments interest it quickly becomes infested with numbers and obscured facts. Give us the study we want and already know. That covid shots continue to kill middle aged Americans and do so without obscured horse apples.
The study is straight forward concerning covid early deaths until they start adding other countries, other factors etc. Lets focus on deaths before covid and deaths after covid shall we. I notice when certain factors disclose information that’s not in this governments interest it quickly becomes infested with numbers and obscured facts. Give us the study we want and already know. That covid shots continue to kill middle aged Americans and do so with obscured horse apples.
No doubt the jab has taken out a LOT of otherwise healthy young folks. Won’t hear about that in MSM though.
How convenient that every ’cause’ listed is on the Left wing agenda. No mention of Black crime which far outstrips some of the “causes” cited. Half of “gun violence” stats are due to suicide.
Without guns people bent on suicide would find other means. Drugs pouring over open borders which have caused huge numbers of fatalities (largely from fentanyl) also not mentioned.
Clearly the people behind this “study” are political operatives. Not what they are passing themselves off to be.
Exactly. And let us not forget that in addition to COVID, millions have been injected with vaccines that were rushed into production.
That’s basically this entire site. All the ‘studies’ are heavily cherrypicked, and there’s an obvious agenda at play with these articles.
I remember one of the ‘studies’ this crap site cited for an article, was some college major’s thesis. It’s a joke.
You nailed it. I would add to your list of attributions, the rising suicide rate among the white working class which is the long term fallout from the white leftist cabal in DC (Pelosi-Biden & Co) that whored out american manufacturing to the Chinese while getting very little in return. It was a gift to the corporate globalists.
Notice how there is no author just some organization. Gee that’s weird. Kind of like they are scared to put their names on this propaganda.
Yup.
“How convenient that every ’cause’ listed is on the Left wing agenda.”
Yup, the left identifies problems and works to solve them.
Turns out that most of the problems are caused by the Right Wing LieDeology and greed, corruption and deceit.
To be a Republican is to be a Traitor.
At least we’re mostly non-jabbed traitors.
Winning!
Vendicar! I see you are still alive and well and spreading more FUD. Why don’t you find something meaningful to do with your life?
Richard, I see that America continues to crumble into nothingness – exactly as I have predicted.
That’s what you get when you elect corrupt Republican traitors to office.
The world is laughing.
Biden is not Republican. However, he is corrupt having taken bribes and worked with Hunter’s companies as VP. The evidence for Biden’s corruption is still in the hands of House Republicans.
Pills. Ever since Vietnam. Pills, not Republicans, are responsible for last four decades of early death in America.
Dude. Your head is so far up your rear end that it is affecting your thinking. Cutting the Prozaks in half would not be a bad idea. Then maybe you could find it logical that the left doesn’t identify problems. They ARE the problem.
It’s a real study, and points to the FACT that Americans are dying younger, and the authors postulate why. YOU are the one that brought politics into it, and leapt quickly to the study being false. The problem is that in this country anything that’s mentioned is turned into a political football, with solutions totally off the table.
Exactly.
As soon as you mention the word ‘left’ and connect all this to politics your post becomes too simplistic and less persuasive.
Bingo and good thinking on your part.
Nailed it.
Garbage news
While the causes listed for the increased mortality rate may be valid, the article glosses over the general decline in health in the USA over the time period listed. Obesity rates and the concurrent illnesses that go with that have been trending upward at an alarming rate. As a nation, we are fairly sick. And in large part with lifestyle diseases.