PNAS. The research aimed to better understand the stagnation in life expectancy occurring in the United States over the past 3 decades compared with other industrialized countries.According to the study, the top three factors most closely connected to death are smoking, experiencing divorce, and having engaged in alcohol misuse.The full list of the top 10 factors that most strongly predict death is as follows:A recent estimate of U.S.
life expectancy stood at 78.6 years, while 11 other industrialized nations averaged about 82.3 years. This represented a gain of just 4.9 years for the U.S.