Opioids and obesity, not 'despair deaths,' raising mortality rates for white Americans
he study, published online today in the International Journal of Epidemiology , also found that, contrary to widely reported research findings, suicide and alcohol-related deaths are not to blame for increasing mortality rates among middle-aged whites. The results call into question recent reports suggesting that what have become known collectively as "despair deaths" -- by suicide, alcohol and drugs -- are on the rise among white Americans, particularly men, facing a lack of economic opportunity and an increase in chronic pain. "We find little empirical support for the pain-and distress-based explanations for rising mortality in the U.S. white population," said lead author Ryan Masters, an assistant professor of sociology at CU's Institute of Behavioral Science. "Instead, recent mortality increases have likely been shaped by the U.S. opiate epidemic." Masters said metabolic diseases, including heart disease , obesity and diabetes, are also ...