Death Rates for Wisconsin's Young and Middle-Aged Adults Have Skyrocketed

Monday, February 6th, 2023 -- 1:01 PM

(By Jenny Peek, Wisconsin Public Radio) Over the last two decades, death rates for young and middle-aged adults in Wisconsin have skyrocketed.

According to Jenny Peek with Wisconsin Public Radio, meanwhile, older people in the state are dying at lower rates than ever before. It's a tale of divergent trends, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum's Mark Sommerhauser. The nonpartisan policy research organization released a new report Friday looking at statewide mortality rates from 2001 to 2021.

"We are seeing a long-term decline in mortality among older adults, due to pretty large, long-term declines in some of the most frequent causes of death for older people, things like heart disease, strokes, cancer," Sommerhauser, lead author of the report, said.

"Unfortunately, what we have on the other side of the coin here is that we've seen a pretty significant increase in mortality among younger adults. And … the single biggest cause really is drug overdoses," he continued.

The report looked at mortality data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention including cause of death for different age and racial groups. For Wisconsinites ages 30-34, the mortality rate rose 137 percent from 2001 to 2021.

Deaths from COVID-19 played a significant role in that spike, but Sommerhauser said it's important to note that these age groups typically have lower death rates than their older counterparts.

"One thing to remember is that total mortality for all causes among young adults is quite low," he said. "So any sort of increase among younger adults is going to move the needle among total mortality for young adults more (than older adults), because there are just fewer deaths."

For younger adults in the state, the report found the overarching reason for higher death rates is drug overdose. Over the last two decades, overdose deaths made up more than half of the mortality increase for Wisconsinites ages 20-49.

In 2021 alone, there were 1,427 opioid overdose deaths in Wisconsin, according to data from the state Department of Health Services, up from 1,227 opioid-related deaths in 2020.

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