Morbidity and Mortality Are Rising Among Middle-Aged U.S. Whites

Since the end of World War II, annual morbidity and mortality have been decreasing among U.S. residents in all age and socioeconomic strata. Two Princeton economists, one of whom won the 2015 Nobel Prize, analyzed multiple datasets collected during the past several decades in the U.S. and other developed nations.

These investigators report a remarkable and worrisome finding: Between 1999 and 2013, morbidity and mortality increased among middle-aged (age range, 45–54) white non-Hispanic U.S. residents. Rates did not increase in other age strata of white non-Hispanic U.S. residents, in black non-Hispanic or Hispanic U.S. residents, or in residents of other developed nations. The reported increase was driven exclusively by rates in residents wh…