Overall death rates in the U.S. have plummeted over the past 15 years yet middle age mortalities appear to sway in the opposite direction. A new study by Princeton University researchers even attested to this trend. The big question now is why?

According to the study, deaths in middle-aged Americans are associated with alcohol and drug abuse, suicide and liver disease. Although these factors have caused increased deaths among middle-aged whites, it decreased the rates in blacks and Hispanics.

In the past, deaths related to drugs were more prevalent among middle-aged blacks than whites under the same age group. Now, the rates for the racial groups have turned as drug abuse mortalities have become more common in whites. Aside from drugs, liver disease-related deaths also follow the same trend. Suicide in middle-aged whites is now four times higher than that of blacks.

One possibility behind the mortality rate spike is the intake of drugs and suicide as a response to economic instability. The researchers, however, noted that if this holds true, then why do middle-aged people in other countries not exhibit the same reactions?

Recent data about people acquiring illness and developing disabilities may shed a light. Middle-aged whites were noted to report more chronic pain, more mental stresses, more struggle in shopping and socializing and more difficulties walking at great distances and climbing stairs. Increased numbers of people under this age group also reported that they cannot work any longer.

Surprisingly, the health picture looks better for the elderly population, as evidenced by lesser addiction and disability rates.

Study authors Anne Case and Angus Deaton then wondered how much of middle-age deaths are related to the rise of prescription narcotics use.

Deaton said that since the 1990s, there have been so much focus on pain relief that patients started to cause the rise of pain charts in clinics and subsequent increase in prescription narcotics.

Ellen Meara, associate professor of healthy policy and clinical practice at the Dartmouth Institute said that another striking finding is that deaths among middle-aged whites are due to accidents or intentional causes, rather than disease-related causes such as obesity or cancer. "There is something going on that is not purely biological," she said.

"This paper really is a question, not an answer," commented David Weir, director of the health and retirement study at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan.

Photo: Alisha Vargas | Flickr