Death Is Not the Enemy

Death is not the enemy. Human death is normal; we all die. The real enemies are premature death, disability, pain, human suffering, and the prolongation of dying. All the rest is mostly noise.  —George Lundberg

George D. Lundberg, MD

At its core, the likelihood of an American experiencing premature death is all about availability and ease of access to beneficial and harmful products and services, determined by geography, driven by economics; diverse and often inequitable but with logical, even predictable, outcomes. Humans are easily led in healthy and unhealthy directions. The rest is all about availability.

The average life expectancy at birth is 74.5 years for American men and 80.2 years for American women. The median age at death for Americans, not divided by gender, geography, race, or ethnicity, is 73.7 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines premature death as death at ages younger than 70 years.

So, what common diseases, afflictions, or agents kill Americans prematurely, from the youngest to the oldest, and what is the median age of premature death from each?

• Gunshot wounds: median age at death, 28 years

• Fentanyl: 35 years

• Vehicular crashes: 40 years

• Overdose not otherwise specified (NOS): 46 years

• Alcoholism: 57 years

• Tobacco addiction: 66 years