× Thanks for reading! Log in to continue. Enjoy more articles by logging in or creating a free account. No credit card required. Log in Sign up {{featured_button_text}}

Life expectancy in Wisconsin has dropped for two years in a row fueled by increased deaths from alcohol abuse and opioids, a report released Monday from the nonpartisan Wisconsin Policy Forum found.

The group also found that increased mortality among black people was pushing Wisconsin's rate down. The state's overall rate mirrors a slight downward trend nationally.

Those increased deaths "overshadow other trends, enabled by medical progress in treatment of heart disease, stroke and other areas, that otherwise would be lengthening life expectancy," the report said.

The national decrease in life expectancy is the first since between 1915 and 1918, a period that included World War I and a global influenza epidemic. The current epidemic is drug and alcohol abuse, the report said.

Drug and alcohol deaths in Wisconsin have more than tripled since 1999, increasing from 593 that year to 1,985 in 2017. The state's drug death rate has more than quadrupled since 1999. Opioid deaths increased from 65 in 1999 to 901 in 2017.