US Life Expectancy Rises after Drops Linked to COVID-19

2023-12-04 17:30:53来源：网络

US Life Expectancy Rises after Drops Linked to COVID-19

在与COVID-19相关的下降之后，美国的预期寿命上升

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　　By Bryan Lynn

　　01 December 2023

　　Life expectancy in the United States rose by about one year in 2022 following earlier decreases linked to the COVID-19 pandemic.

　　Life expectancy predicts the average number of years a baby born in a given year can expect to live. Federal data showed that in 2022, U.S. life expectancy rose from 76.4 years to 77.5 years.

　　Researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 2022's increase came largely because of disappearing COVID-19 cases.

　　For many years, life expectancy for Americans generally rose a little bit nearly every year. But about 10 years ago, the rate flattened and even decreased in some years. Those drops were blamed on drug overdose deaths and suicides.

　　The number of U.S. suicides reached an all-time high last year, a separate CDC report found. The national suicide rate also saw its highest level since 1941. U.S. drug overdose deaths rose slightly in 2022 after much larger increases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

　　During the pandemic, U.S. life expectancy dropped from 78 years and 10 months in 2019 to 77 years in 2020. Then, in 2021, the rate dropped further, to 76 years and 5 months.

　　Elizabeth Arias is a researcher for the CDC who worked on the latest report. She told The Associated Press the U.S. life expectancy rate was clearly hurt by COVID-19 and will take "some time before we're back to where we were in 2019."

　　But Arias noted there were several favorable developments. For example, "all the groups by race and sex experienced increases in life expectancy," she said.

　　Steven Woolf, a life expectancy researcher at Virginia Commonwealth University, said he expects the U.S. to one day get back to pre-pandemic levels. But he added, "That is not a great place to be."

　　Life expectancy in 2022 increased the most for American Indian and Alaska Native non-Hispanic newborns. The rate went from 65.6 to 67.9, followed by an increase of 2.2 years for Hispanic newborns, from 77.8 to 80.

　　The life expectancy for Black non-Hispanic Americans increased by 1.6 years, from 71.2 to 72.8. Researchers noted that people in that group were more severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

　　Life expectancy increased by 1 year for Asian non-Hispanic babies to 84.5 years, and by 0.8 years for White non-Hispanic babies, to 77.5.

　　Life expectancy in the U.S. remains longer for females. In 2020, the difference between the two sexes reached 6 years, a level not seen since 1996. In 2022, the difference narrowed to 5.4 years, down from 5.8 years in 2021.

　　Life expectancy in the U.S. continues to be lower than that of numerous other countries. And the latest report shows that the U.S. did not rebound as quickly after the pandemic as some other countries, including France, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

　　I'm Bryan Lynn.

　　The Associated Press and Reuters reported on this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the reports for VOA Learning English.

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　　Bryan Lynn

　　2023年12月1日

　　在与COVID-19大流行相关的早期下降之后，2022年美国的预期寿命增加了大约一年。

　　预期寿命预测了在给定年份出生的婴儿预计能活多少年。联邦数据显示，2022年，美国的预期寿命从76.4岁增加到77.5岁。

　　美国疾病控制和预防中心的研究人员表示，2022年的增长主要是因为COVID-19病例的减少。

　　多年来，美国人的预期寿命每年都会略有增长。但大约10年前，这个比率趋于平稳，甚至在某些年份有所下降。这些下降被归咎于药物过量死亡和自杀。

　　美国疾病控制和预防中心的另一份报告发现，去年美国的自杀人数达到了历史最高水平。全国自杀率也达到了自1941年以来的最高水平。在COVID-19大流行期间，美国的药物过量死亡人数在2022年略有上升。

　　在大流行期间，美国的预期寿命从2019年的78岁10个月下降到2020年的77岁。然后，在2021年，这个比率进一步下降，到76岁5个月。

　　伊丽莎白·阿里亚斯是CDC的一名研究员，她参与了最新的报告。她告诉美联社，美国的预期寿命显然受到了COVID-19的影响，要回到2019年的水平还需要“一段时间”。