EmpiricalRequires evidence

The American plateau is two trends crossing, not one trend arriving, and this answers the objection that it is merely an opioid epidemic. From 1999 to 2009 the rising deaths from drugs, alcohol, suicide and organ disease were offset by large co-occurring reductions in mortality from ischemic heart disease, cancer, HIV infection, motor vehicle injuries and other leading causes. In 2010 the rising causes combined with diminishing further reductions in the falling ones to produce stagnation. By 2014 the rising causes more than offset the falling ones and life expectancy began to drop. So the deterioration had been running for a decade while the twentieth century's remaining wins concealed it, and what changed in 2010 was partly that those wins ran out.

Risk landscape