Late 2021, a member of Dutch Parliament submitted a vote for an inquiry in the prolonged Dutch excess mortality. His motion received the full support of Dutch Parliament (source). Other countries have similar questions, like the UK and USA. So far, nobody has found a satisfactory explanation.
Some explanations are more political than scientific. Hence, my adding of the word satisfactory. Others claim that privacy laws prevent an explanation. All of these unsatisfactory explanations question the actual mortality. Nobody questions the ongoing validity of assumptions in actuarial statistics.
The diagram (left) is from a recent NPR article: The sad state of U.S. life expectancy. See my related blog.
The bitter truth may well be that life expectancy is decreasing in all countries; apart from USA.
Remarkably, senior people have a better (relative) health than younger people (eg, IPPR-2008, Live Science-2016, TIME-2016).
Hence, lifestyle diseases may well be the culprit of worsening demographics.
An indication for that suggestion is the number of (global) articles on the surge in advanced colon cancer under the age of 50 (eg, NBC-2023, Medscape-2023, Irish Medical Times-2023, NZ Doctor-2023, Medical Xpress-2023, Rising Kashmir-2023, De Morgen-2023, De Standaard-2023).
Reuters Health Rounds, 4 May 2023: “The “red flag” findings in people under age 50 are abdominal pain, rectal bleeding, diarrhea and iron deficiency anemia, her team reported on Thursday in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.“
The 2021 Nurses’ Health Study II (1991–2015), amongst c.96,000 women, suggested a link between sugary drinks and colon cancer (eg, NU-2022, Harvard-2021, Fox-2021, NYT-2021) Also see this 2010 study: Risk of Colon Cancer and Coffee, Tea, and Sugar-Sweetened Soft Drink Intake.
In his 2022 blog, the Dutch MP concludes as follows: “A hefty excess mortality and a decreasing life expectancy is an indication that there can be a problem in public health.” He does not specify whether the problem is a demand for healthcare, its supply (eg, capacity, quality), or both.
It took a while before I found a song that illustrates the above. It feels appropriate.
Disease and Desire (1984) by Soft Cell
band, lyrics, video, Wiki-band, Wiki-album+song
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
I DON’T LIKE THE TOPIC, THE LYRICS OF THE SONG, TOO.
CAN’T IT BE MORE HAPPY TOPIC ?
TODAY IN SERBIA THE SECOND MASSACRE .. AFTER THE ONE THREE DAYS AGO. ADOLESCENTS CRIMINALS, IRRESPONSIBLE PARENTS..
THE WAR IN UKRAINE CONTINUES.. CAN’T SOMETHING FUN BE DONE HERE LEON ?
TO HAVE A GOOD DAY I WILL SING BEETHOVE’S ” ODE TO JOY..! FRATELLO. I’M SCARED .