Combined deaths from alcohol, drugs and suicide in the U.S. plateaued in 2018 for the first time in two decades, according to a report published Thursday.
The so-called deaths of despair reached a high in 2017, and the leveling off in 2018 was driven by a decrease in overall drug overdose deaths — the first such decrease in a decade.
Troubling data, however, lay beneath the overall findings: Deaths due to alcohol, synthetic opioids, cocaine and suicide increased, particularly among people of color, according to the report from the Trust for America's Health, a nonprofit health policy organization in Washington, and the Well Being Trust, a nonprofit started by the health care company Providence St. Joseph Health that focuses on advancing mental health in the U.S.
Some experts worry that the COVID-19 pandemic will make the problems worse.
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