Deaths From Substance Abuse Rose Sharply Among Older Americans in 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the economy. And, as governments are struggling to pay wages and salaries, those in need are taking matters into their own hands, looking for work, and looking to stay alive.
But a new report on deaths from fatal accidents, opioids, alcohol, and addiction, show that deaths from these causes are on the rise for older adults in the US.
A press release by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that in 2020, there were approximately 6.5 million deaths from all causes globally:
The number of deaths attributed to drug overdoses surpassed that of motor vehicle accidents worldwide, the United States’ leading cause of accidental death in recent years, according to a report from the World Health Organization (WHO).
Opioids were responsible for more than 600,000 deaths worldwide in 2017. And, in the US, opioid deaths increased by more than 300% from the early 1990s through 2019; the number of deaths involving alcohol increased by more than 150% during the same period.
In 2019, there were more than 47,000 deaths attributed to alcohol poisoning. More than 60% of these deaths were in men, while men account for 90% of fatalities in the USA. These numbers have risen since 2015; the number of male deaths from alcohol poisoning that year was nearly three times the number of those caused by alcohol in 2014.
Of the people who died in a car crash in 2019, 79% were in their 70s, and more than two-thirds of those killed were men. The most common cause of the deadly accidents was speeding; other major causes of death were distracted driving, not wearing a seatbelt, and drinking and driving.
Alcohol Deaths in 2020
Alcohol is responsible for nearly 600,000 deaths each year. That number is more than triple the number from 1995.
By the time this news emerged, New York had already experienced three overdose deaths tied to the death of the driver of New York City’s subway train this weekend. The driver, a man in his 50s, reportedly had just left a Manhattan restaurant after attending a birthday party, and his wife was in