Health, United States, 2017, With Special Feature on Mortality

Health, United States, 2017, With Special Feature on Mortality

A new bird's-eye view of health in America

The CDC just released a sweeping data set on health in the U.S., from vaccination rates to asthma prevalence among kids. A few findings that caught my eye:

• Chronic liver disease: Among women ages 25 to 34, death rates for chronic liver disease and cirrhosis climbed by an average of 11 percent each year from 2006 to 2016. Among men in that same age group, rates rose about 8 percent annually.  
• Life expectancy: Between 2014 and 2015, life expectancy at birth dropped 0.2 years, the first decline since 1993. It fell another 0.1 years the next year.  
• Health spending: In 2016, personal health spending in the U.S. hit $2.8 trillion, more than a 4 percent jump from 2015.