Declining life expectancies in the US include Gen X and Y
“We identified late-Gen X (38- to 45-year-olds) and early-Gen Y (27- to 37-year-olds) as age cohorts with elevated mortality patterns, particularly for non-Hispanic whites, said study co-author Emma Zang, a Ph.D. candidate at the Sanford School of Public Policy. “That is in addition to the rise among the already much-discussed Baby Boomer generation.”
To study cause of death for Americans born from 1946 to 1992, the researchers used data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Mortality Multiple Cause Files for the years 1990-2016.
Late Gen X and early Gen Y Americans were aged 25 to 43 during the Great Recession and faced greater difficulty finding jobs, which may have contributed to greater health impacts.
“Social scientists and policymakers are aware of the financial burden for the younger generation, but the elevated mortality rate among them has largely been ignored,” the authors say in a paper that appears in the December issue of the International Journal of Epidemiology.
The study examined death rates in five different age cohorts, comparing men and women, as well as whites, blacks and Hispanics.
“Few studies have looked at Hispanics when considering disparities in mortality,” Zang said.