THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
Committee on Population and Committee on National Statistics
Committee on Rising Midlife Mortality Rates and Socioeconomic Disparities
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Congressional Briefings
Thursday, March 11, 2021 – 2:00 p.m.
and
Monday, March 29, 2021 – 2:00 p.m.
via Zoom
on
High and Rising Mortality Rates Among Working-Age Adults
This new report, from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, highlights the crisis of rising premature mortality that threatens the future of the nation's families, communities, and national wellbeing. It identifies the key drivers of increasing death rates and disparities in working-age mortality over the period 1990 to 2017; elucidates modifiable risk factors that could alleviate poor health in the working-age population, as well as widening health inequalities; identifies key knowledge gaps and makes recommendations for future research and data collection to fill those gaps; and explores potential policy implications. After a comprehensive analysis of the trends in working-age mortality by age, sex, race/ethnicity, and geography using the most up-to-date data, this report then looks upstream to the macrostructural factors (e.g., public policies, macroeconomic trends, social and economic inequality, technology) and social determinants (e.g., socioeconomic status, environment, social networks) that may affect the health of working-age Americans in multiple ways and through multiple pathways.
These briefings were for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on March 2, 2021 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.