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Young adults were more likely than any other age group to die from drugs, alcohol and suicide over the past decade, underscoring the despair Millennials face and the pressure on the health care system to respond to a crisis that shows little sign of abating. Drug-related deaths among people 18 to 34 soared 108% between 2007 and 2017, while alcohol deaths were up 69% and suicides increased 35%, according to an analysis out Thursday of the latest federal data by the non-profit Trust for America's Health and Well Being Trust. (O'Donnell, 6/13)

The authors note that millennials have a number of risk factors that increase their vulnerability to alcohol, drugs, and suicide: impulse control centers in the brain are not fully developed until the mid- to late-20s; young adults often take more risks in sexual and drug-use behaviors compared to older adults; and they make up the highest percentage of the US military, which can be a stressful profession. Millennials also face high costs of postsecondary education and mounting student loan debt as well as a housing market that's largely out of reach. (Anderson, 6/13)

The report examined data in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., taking an in-depth look at 47 factors that have an impact on health outcomes, including insurance coverage, access to doctors, obesity, smoking, even tooth loss, and ultimately assigning each state a score. The data are from 2017. Although the rates of the so-called deaths of despair are up nationally, the report's investigators were particularly struck by regional differences in the rates. (Edwards, 6/12)

“When we look at what’s going on in Mid-Atlantic states—West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania—those are the states that have the highest rates of drug-overdose deaths in the country,” said David Radley from the group. Drug-overdose rates in West Virginia rose more than fourfold between 2005 and 2017, according to the report, mainly due to opioid abuse. After West Virginia, the District of Columbia, Kentucky, Delaware, and New Hampshire had the next highest drug-overdose death rates in the country, the report found. (Ross, 6/12)