US life expectancy drops again due to drug use, suicides

By Kimberly Leonard

Published November 29, 2018 1:54pm ET

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US life expectancy drops again due to drug use, suicides — FILE - In this June 17, 2016 file photo, Erika Marble visits the gravesite of Edward Martin III, her fiancÃ© and father of her two children, in Littleton, N.H. The 28-year old died Nov. 30, 2014, from an overdose of the opioid Fentanyl. Drug overdose deaths increased by 33 percent in the past five years across the U.S. as of 2016. New Hampshire saw a 191 percent increase while Massachusetts, North Dakota, Connecticut and Maine saw death rates jump by more than 100 percent. | (Jim Cole/AP)

U.S. life expectancy failed to rise for the third straight year in 2017, a trend that hasn’t been observed in 100 years.

The finding comes from a series of reports released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They showed that drug overdoses and suicides fueled the trend, resulting in earlier deaths and a changed view of how long people in the U.S. can expect to live.

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Congress Health Opioids Suicide