News Scan for Aug 24, 2022

Life expectancy fell amid COVID, especially for Hispanic and Black malesIn 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, life expectancy in the United States fell by 4.5 and 3.6 years for Hispanic and Black males, respectively, while declining 1.5 years for their White counterparts, finds a study published yesterday in PNAS.University of Oxford researchers studied national data to identify trends in lifespan inequality, average years of life lost, and the role of causes of death and age in racial life-expectancy disparities from 2010 to 2020.While declines in life expectancy were observed around the world in 2020, the United States saw bigger drops than many other high-income countries—particularly among racial minority populations, the authors noted.

Among all Americans, life expectancy fell by 1.7 years for females and 2.1 years for males, mostly owing to COVID-19 deaths.The pandemic nearly eliminated the Hispanic life-expectancy advantage over the White population seen from 2010 to 2019 while dramatically deepening the already large divide between Black and White life expectancy.Average years of life lost rose substantially for all groups but Hispanic males were hardest hit (4.1 years, 25% due to COVID-19), followed by Black males (3.5 years, 10% attributed to COVID-19).Lifespan inequality, or variation in length of life, rose slightly for Hispanic and White populations but fell for Black people, which the researchers said reflected the younger age pattern of COVID-19 deaths in Hispanic people.The decreases in life expectancy for Hispanic Americans were mostly driven by COVID-19 deaths, but cardiovascular diseases and "deaths of despair" were the most common contributors in their Black peers.The reasons behind the life-expectancy