Low life expectancy in the United States is associated with opioid analgesics

Life expectancy in the United States fell for the second year in a row for the first time in more than half a century, and is believed to be caused by the worsening opiate problem.

Opioid-based substances or analgesics are used to relieve acute pain.

Life expectancy in 2016 fell by 0.1 years to 78.6, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

This is the first decline in the average age since 1962- 1963. The last such decline occurred in 1920.

The United States also experienced a decline in average age by one year in 1993, at the height of the AIDS epidemic.

Years of over-prescribing opioid analgesics in the United States have led to an addiction crisis at the national level, with some patients turning to heroin and other narcotic drugs when their medical prescription stops.

"The main factor in all this is the increase in deaths from overdose of drugs," said Robert Anderson, head of death statistics at the National Center for Health Statistics.

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Anderson described the continued decline for the second year as "shocking."

In 2016, 63600 people died of overdose, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), up 21 percent from the previous year, three times higher than in 1999.

Deaths due to overdose of opiates increased by 28 percent, killing 42,249 people, mostly in the 25 to 54 age group.

Lower life expectancy again in 2017 would be the first decline in three years since the Spanish flu pandemic 100 years ago.

Excessive overdose is attributable to the invasion of synthetic opiates such as fentanyl, the American market, which is 100 times stronger than heroin.

Many users bought heroin mixed with fentanyl without knowing it.

Deaths caused by overdose of synthetic opiates jumped to 19410 in 2016 from 9850 in 2015 and 5540 in 2014, according to the report.

Death rates from seven out of 10 major causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, stroke and diabetes, decreased the number of deaths due to overdoses.

"If deaths do not decrease for other reasons, it would get worse," Anderson said.

The 2016 mortality rate rose by 9.7 percent due to unintentional injuries, 3.1 percent for Alzheimer's disease - partly due to aging populations - and 1.5 percent for suicide.

In a separate report, the Center for Disease Control linked the 133 percent increase in cases of hepatitis C between 2004 and 2014 to an increase in the number of users taking opioid analgesics.

In October, US President Donald Trump described the worsening abuse of opiates as a public emergency, but he did not declare it a national emergency, helping to channel more federal funds to fight the crisis.

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