United States: Deaths in the United States have kept increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the early deaths of hundreds of thousands, the study finds
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If US death rates had matched those in wealthy countries, the same number of Americans would not have died in 2022 and 2023, reported researchers on May 23 in the JAMA Health Forum.
Nearly half of the deaths among those younger than 65 — around 46% — could have been prevented if US death rates were like those in similar countries, the researchers found.
According to the lead researcher Jacob Bor, an associate professor of global health and epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, “The US has been in a protracted health crisis for decades, with health outcomes far worse than other high-income countries,” US News reported.
“Imagine the lives saved, the grief and trauma averted, if the U.S. simply performed at the average of our peers,” Bor stated.
“One out of every 2 US deaths under 65 years is likely avoidable. Our failure to address this is a national scandal.”
For their research, the scientists looked at more than 107 million death records in the US and 230 million in 21 high-income nations, covering the years 1980 to 2023.
Australia, Canada, France, Japan, and the U.K. are also considered wealthy nations, researchers said, US News reported.
In comparison to other wealthy nations, the US saw nearly 15 million deaths over the course of four decades that didn’t need to occur, the research indicates.
In 1980, the US had 42,000 fewer deaths from heart disease than other nations experienced at that time.