This article first appeared in RACMonitor News on 2/25/21 and published with explicit permission
Amid last week’s hottest reports, was new data from the National Center for Health Statistics. It was expected COVID-19 would dramatically impact life expectancy across populations, but the data for those persons most vulnerable remains alarming.
The first six months of 2020 revealed life expectancy for the U.S. population dropped by on average of one year.
- Life expectancy at birth was 77.8 years – a decline of 1 year, from 78.8 in 2019.
- For males, life expectancy at birth was 75.1 – a decline of 1.2 years.
- For females, life expectancy dropped to 80.5 years, a 0.9 year decrease.
What do these numbers have to do with the social determinants of health? Countless reports have spoken to the dramatic increase in COVID-related deaths across the most racially and ethnically-diverse communities. Recent data aligns with these reports, and poses powerful considerations for the BIPOC and Latinx communities:
- Non-Latinx Black males had life expectancy decrease by three years; this was a major shift from the prior years of increased lifespans for this demographic group.
- Latinx males equally also had a large dip in life expectancy, a decline of 2.4 years.
- Non-Latinx Black females had life expectancy decline by 2.3 years, and
- Latinx females a decline of 1.1 years.
- Life expectancy decline was less pronounced for non-Latinx whites:
- White males had a decline 0.8 years,
- White females a decline of 0.7 years.
The pandemic was not the only contributing factor to the shift. Mass numbers of people delayed medical treatment or opted to forego care for non-COVID related illnesses due to fears of virus infection. Drug overdose deaths were another influencer. These deaths have cut a large slice out of all regions of the country, particularly racial and ethnic communities:
- A recent report from the CDC revealed over 81,000 deaths for drug overdose-related deaths between June 2019 through June 2020.
- This number reflected a 20% increase from the prior year, and the highest number of fatal overdoses recorded in the United States in a single year. Opioid deaths had fallen in 2018 for the first time in close to a decade, but increased use of fentanyl and other narcotics have led to rapidly rising rates.
- Emergency room overdose visits alone were up by 45%
The population continues to suffer from unemployment, increased food insecurity, access to health and mental health, along with pervasive pandemic-related anxiety over the unknown future. Generations to come will be forced to reconcile the pandemic as, yet, another contributor of adverse childhood experiences (ACES), trauma, and decreased life expectancy. More strategic action to fund, reimburse for, and address the social determinants is more than a priority, but a national imperative.
Our Monitor Monday Survey asked, how much life expectancy data of organization’s target population factored into operations (e.g., revenue management, workforce flow and staffing, funding streams) and the results can be viewed here. The outcome poses real pitfalls and promises for the industry to translate data into action, ensure financial sustainability for health organizations, address new dimensions of trauma, and impact on life expectancy
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