Life expectancy in the United States is expected to stagnate until 2050

 Life expectancy  in the United States is expected to  stagnate until 2050
A new analysis  predicts that the  United States will fall to  66th out of 204 countries in  the life expectancy  ranking in 2050,  compared to 49th in 2022. 
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The United States is expected to make only  small gains in life expectancy  in the  coming decades, and this minimal improvement highlights an "alarming trajectory of health challenges" facing the country, researchers  say.
Life expectancy in the  United States is expected to increase from 78.3 years in 2022 to 80.4 years in 2050, according to forecasting models from the Institute for Health Metrics and  Evaluation at the University of Washington.
For the analysis, published Thursday in The Lancet, researchers assessed the impacts of hundreds of diseases and other health risks  in the  United States and  each state and compared them to a  group of more than 200 other  countries. United States, New York, Manhattan streets. Skyscrapers and crowded streets, cars and people  hurrying around downtown  on a sunny spring day
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They found that the  United States is lagging behind in life expectancy gains, putting the country behind most other  high-wealth countries and some middle-income  countries; In terms of overall life expectancy, the  United States is  projected to fall to  66th out of 204 countries assessed in 2050,  compared to 49th in  2022.
Women's life expectancy in the  United States is  projected to improve less than  that of men, narrowing the  gender gap in life  expectancy. The  United States will move from 51st to 74th in life expectancy for women  by 2050 and from 51st to 65th for  men, according to IHME  projections.
The slight increase in  U.S. life expectancy  projected for 2050 is  due to a  projected decline in mortality  from some of the leading causes of death, including heart disease, stroke and diabetes, according to IHME.
But addressing  some key risk factors could  improve life expectancy in the United States even more  dramatically, forecast models suggest.  For example, lower levels of obesity, smoking and drug use disorders could lead to  an increase of about  six months in life expectancy by  2050.
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 24:  Drug paraphernalia at a safe injection site at OnPoint NYC on Monday,  January 24, 2022 in New York, NY. In 2021, New York City opened two supervised drug injection sites in the Harlem and Washington Heights neighborhoods in an effort to address  rising overdose  deaths. "Despite modest increases in  overall life  expectancy, our models  predict a slowdown in health improvements due to rising rates of obesity, which is a serious risk factor  for many chronic diseases and  is expected to  reach unprecedented levels," said Christopher Murray, director of IHME and  co-author of the new  study, in a  press release. "The  rising rates of obesity and overweight in the  United States, with IHME  predicting more than 260 million people  will be affected by 2050, signals a public health crisis of unimaginable  proportions."
GLP-1 drugs are  gaining traction in the  United States with promising  results, but the future of  their adoption remains uncertain and IHME did not include a scenario that  involves these treatments as a  factor.
Recent data from the  U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also  suggests that drug overdose deaths have  begun to decline after reaching record levels, but IHME notes that drug overdose  rates remain high and  are likely  to rise for decades. IHME estimates that the  age-standardized rate of  substance use disorders in the  United States will be the highest in the  world and more than twice  that of Canada, which is the second.