U.S. life expectancy increased in 2018 for the first time in four years thanks to a reduction in drug overdose deaths and a lower cancer death rate, The Washington Post reports.
The data was published Jan. 30 by the CDC. The improvement was small — life expectancy ticked up just 0.1 years to 78.7 years old. This is still lower than peak life expectancy in the U.S., which was 78.9 years in 2014. Among the leading causes of death, suicide deaths and influenza and pneumonia deaths continued to increase.
Improvements were made in heart disease deaths, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke and Alzheimer's, all of which are in the top nine leading causes of death, according to the report.
Read the full story here.
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