Study: 'Diseases of despair' on rise in Lorain County and beyond

Despair is literally killing us. That's the finding of a new study by Ohio University that looked at how self-destructive behaviors have hurt Ohioans over the past decade. It found drug overdoses, suicides and alcohol-related liver disease are cutting into the average life expectancy across the state. In Lorain County, these "diseases of despair" took 1,431 lives over a 10-year period, according to the study. Related deaths here escalated from 67 in 2010 to 186 in 2019, peaking at 220 in 2017. "This report is troubling," said Elaine Georgas, interim executive director at the Mental Health, Addiction and Recovery Services Board of Lorain County. The shared anguish of 9/11, childhood emotional trauma and struggles with family finances all take a toll on mental health, she said. "Looking back at history, when there are traumatic events, there are peaks that happen," Georgas said. Statewide, the study found heart failure and cancer to be the two biggest killers. Diseases of despair ranked sixth, causing the deaths of 53,632 Ohioans. That's a loss of more than 1.9 million years of life lost, the study calculated. Unintentional overdoses made up slightly more than half of Ohio's deaths of despair. Suicides accounted for nearly a third. The highest risk was among middle-aged, non-Hispanic white men with no college degree. Specifically, people ages 30-39 saw the largest increase in deaths by despair, and rural residents enduring economic hardship. "After a century of relatively steady growth in life expectancy in the United States, the past decade has reflected a decrease in life expectancy accompanied by an increase in mortality rates," Ohio University researchers said, citing United Nations statistics. From 1959 to 2016, average U.S. life expectancy rose by nine years. Since 2014, it's sloped off. Lorain County's overdose, suicide and alcohol-related deaths fall generally in line with Cuyahoga, Erie and Huron counties. The worst-hit counties per capita are in southern Ohio, where the opioid epidemic has fueled all kinds of problems: Butler, Montgomery, Clark, Clermont, Brown, Adams, Ross, Pike, Scioto, Gallia and Meigs. In the northern half of the state, only Marion and Trumbull counties rank among the worst for death rate. The findings do not reflect COVID-19 deaths, because the pandemic started after the study ended. Ohio's first COVID-19 death was Mark Wagoner Sr. of Lucas County, who died March 18 at age 76. But pandemic survivors — whether they personally got sick or not — will certainly deal with mental health issues, Georgas said. Supporting each other now is critical, she said: "We have to find these new ways to connect," even while staying safely isolated to prevent the spread of the virus. Georgas said Lorain County residents should reach out to loved ones and neighbors, ask how they are doing and let them know there are services available to help through the hard times. Communities can rally together to save lives, she said. Contact Jason Hawk at (440) 329-7122 or news@lcnewspapers.com.