Video Project 1

My first video project!

Audio Blog Post 2

https://sites.google.com/site/audiopost2/audio-post-2

 In this post I interview Dan Loreti. In the interview we talk about Dan's choice to become a vegetarian.

Mini Podcast

This post is my first audio/mini podcast post. In this post I go over my top three list of makeup products!

https://sites.google.com/site/minipodcastpost

Life Expectancy Rates Drop in the US

The United States has recently seen a drop in life expectancy rates. The rate of death has increased in the U.S. for the first time since 1933. This statistic is disturbing and alarming to many citizens. Life expectancy is the best way for researchers to indicate the overall well being of a nation. In 2015 the death rate was 724.6 for every 100,000 people. Over the past year, 2016, this rate rose to 733.1 per 100,000.  Although this may not seem like a very drastic change, it is significant enough to lower the overall life expectancy rates in the U.S.

 There are various reasons that have contributed to this figure. Deaths related to heart disease and stroke have jumped in the past year, increasing the number of deaths per capita. Heart disease is the number one cause of death in the Untied States, with cancer as a very close second. The death rate rose 1.2% over the course of 2015. Approximately 45 percent of the 2.7 million people that died in 2015, died of heart disease or cancer. Heart disease killed approximately 633,000 Americans in the U.S. in 2015. Cancer killed an approximate 595,000 people during that same year. The cause of death that rose the most over the year of 2015 was Alzheimer’s disease, which rose from 25.4  to 29.4 people per every 100,000 people. Additional causes of death rose along with Alzheimer’s such as respiratory disease, kidney disease and diabetes.

Another aspect of how life expectancy is measured is how long someone at the age of 65 is expected to live. In 2015, men at the age of 65 could be expected to live another 18 years, while women of that age would be expected to live 20.6 years. These numbers have shown very little decline over the last year, which suggests that more people under the age of 65 died in 2016. The overall drop in life expectancy statistics is largely due to the deaths of people under the age of 65. There are a few reasons that people are dying younger. Drug overdose and suicide as causes of death have gone up over the past year. The United states is currently facing an abuse of prescription medication epidemic. This issues that also fuels the epidemic of heroin abuse. The decline in life expectancy rates could be directly related to these two public health issues that currently face the United States.  

The rate of unintentional deaths also saw a significant increase over the 2015 year. In 2014, approximately 136,000 died of unintentional injuries, over the next year that number rose by 10,000 to 146,000. This figure includes deaths caused by car accidents and overdoses due to drugs, alcohol, etc. Another startling fact regarding life expectancy in America is the number of deaths caused by suicide. Suicide claimed the lives of about 44,193 people in 2015 which rose by about 1,500 people from 2014 when the figure was around 42,770 people.  In America, the tenth leading cause of death is suicide. This figure is startling to many and a cause for concern in our nation. Experts have linked these rates to unemployment and economic circumstances.

Other patterns, about the demographics most effected by the drop in life expectancy were also noticed. Deaths rose for both white men and women. Death rates also increased for black men, while staying consistent in black women. For both Hispanic men and women, death rates essentially stayed consistent.  

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