Escalating homicide rates in Mexico are affecting the country’s average life expectancy.

According to research published in the journal Health Affairs, the life expectancy for Mexican men aged 15 to 50 fell by 0.6 percent from 2005 to 2010.

“In most countries, homicides do commonly occur, particularly among young people,” said Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez, a professor of public health at the University of California, Los Angeles, and the lead author of the study. “What is unusual, though, is for homicides to have such a large impact at the national level.”

In 2005, Mexico’s murder rate was 9.5 per 100,000 people, but by 2010, that figure had more than doubled, to 22 per 100,000. That shift coincides with the beginning of a new national security strategy in 2006, which aimed to dismantle criminal organizations, Dr. Beltrán-Sánchez said.

“We suspect that the rise in homicides has to do with those policies, which we hope will be discontinued.”