What's fueling the rise in deaths among middle-age whites

A recently identified rise in mortality among middle-age, white Americans has more to do with "a lack of progress" in treating common illnesses than with the issues of substance abuse and suicide, which had been initially blamed for the trend, a new report argues.

The research from The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation that advocates for improvements in health care, found there has been a stalling, and in some cases a reversal, of progress in reducing deaths among middle-age whites from common killers such as heart disease, diabetes and respiratory illness.

What's fueling the rise in deaths among middle-age whites