A new study in the US says that young adults are dying at a higher rate than expected due to drug overdoses and poor health.
The researchers reported in JAMA Network Open that the early death rate among adults aged 25 to 44 was 70% higher in 2023 than before 2011.
Elizabeth Wrigley, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota, said that early deaths remained higher than expected based on pre-COVID levels.
However, she said that these deaths had already begun before COVID among adults aged 25 to 44, which were about 35% higher than expected in 2019.
Then during the pandemic, these deaths among young adults almost tripled compared to 2019.
By 2023, mortality rates among young adults had declined, but premature mortality rates rose 70% more than expected.
