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In the U.S., life expectancy from birth decreased from 78.8 years in 2019 to 76.1 years in 2021. Men's life expectancy is lower than women's (73.5 and 79.3 years, respectively, in 2021), and the gender gap has widened from 4.8 to 5.8 years since 2010. In this study, researchers used National Center for Health Statistics mortality data and determined the causes of death that contributed to this widened gap.
The gender life-expectancy gap increased by 0.23 years during 2010 to 2019 and 0.70 years during 2019 to 2021. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest contributors to the increase were unintentional injury (e.g., drug overdose), diabetes, suicide, heart disease, and homicide among men. These were partially offset by relative improvements…