Diseases of despair in the U.S. - Statistics & Facts
Diseases of despair, or deaths of despair, refer to the impact of drug overdose, suicide, and alcohol abuse on people and communities who experience a prolonged sense of despair due to their social or economic circumstances. Death rates from all three of these behavior-related medical conditions have increased in recent years in the United States. Deaths from these three conditions have risen so much that they have been cited as a major contributor to the recent decline in the overall life expectancy in the United States. The impact of diseases of despair is greater among males than females and affects poor, uneducated non-Hispanic whites more than any other race or ethnicity. The ongoing opioid epidemic in the United States has brought attention to the suffering caused by diseases of despair and has provided a glimpse into just how widespread and significant these conditions are.
