Greater stress and anxiety resulting from economic insecurity may be at least partly to blame for the U.S. death rate that the government announced Dec. 8 has increased for the first time in a decade, says an expert on poverty and inequality at Washington University in St. Louis. For the first time since 1993, the overall life-expectancy rate in the United States last year actually went down, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This economic insecurity has led to widespread anxiety within the population, with greater numbers of households struggling to stay afloat. In short, the hopes and dreams for many ordinary Americans have been getting further and further out of reach.
— source source.wustl.edu