Rob Stein
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life expectancy still lags far behind other wealthy nations, such as Australia and Japan.
life expectancy increased to age 79 in 2024, according to the Center for Health Statistics.
That's the highest life expectancy since the government started tracking this key measure of the nation's health and well-being in 1900.
The increase in life expectancy was caused primarily by a drop in deaths from drug overdoses and from COVID-19, which fell out of the top 10 causes of death for the first time since the pandemic.
life expectancy still lags far behind other wealthy nations, such as Australia and Japan.
In a statement to NPR, the Health and Human Services Department says the CDC continues to monitor important health problems and that at least some of the delays may be due to the CDC consolidating databases.
Researchers examined more than 82 CDC databases that the agency had been updating at least monthly and found that at least half, 46%, had stopped updating.
Most of the paused databases had been tracking vaccinations, respiratory diseases, or drug overdoses.
The findings were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
In a statement to NPR, the Health and Human Services Department says the CDC continues to monitor important health problems and that at least some of the delays may be due to the CDC consolidating databases.
The American Academy of Pediatrics is still recommending all children routinely get immunized against 18 diseases.
In the past, the Academy partnered with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to make immunization recommendations for children.