Americans are likely to die earlier than folks from other developed nations. What could it be?
NBC News shares research by the National Center for Health Statistics:
They compared U.S. death rates to those in 12 similar, high-income countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.
Men in these countries live, on average, 2.2 years longer than Americans — 78.6 years versus 76.4 years for men and 83.4 years versus 81.2 years for women.
For men, the three injuries accounted for about half that difference, or one year of life, the NCHS team found.
"Firearm-related injuries accounted for 21 percent of the gap, drug overdose 14 percent, and motor vehicle crashes 13 percent," they wrote.
The rates were half that for women but still significant.
