It’s a well-known fact that women, on average, outlive men.
In the United States, however, the chasm [kaz-um] has widened for more than a decade. Research from the University of California San Francisco and Harvard University suggests that’s due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid-overdose epidemic, among other things.
The study looked at data from 2010 through 2021.
The gap was at its largest in 2021, at five years and eight months. In 2010, the gap was at its smallest in recent history — four years and eight months.
The pandemic, which took a disproportionate toll on men, contributed to the gap from 2019 through 2021, followed by unintentional injuries and poisonings, accidents and suicide.
The study authors note that male behavior played a role, as well as social factors. Men are more reluctant to seek medical care, they’re more likely to be incarcerated and to be homeless. Chronic metabolic disease and mental illness may also contribute.
Another factor at play: Life expectancy for both men and women in 2021 dropped for the second straight year, to an average 76 years and one month.
Experts have attributed the shortening lifespan for Americans to what are known as “deaths of despair.” The term refers to increases in deaths from suicide, drug use disorders and alcoholic liver disease. All these causes are often connected with money troubles, depression and stress.
Their findings raise questions about whether more specialized care, with a mental health focus, would be helpful for men, in general.
It remains to be seen if what is now a tragic trend becomes a sad fact of life.