Federal reports on life expectancy and drug overdoses showed improvement in 2018, brightening the bleak public health picture of the past few years.

Drug overdose deaths dropped 4% nationwide, despite big upticks in deaths from cocaine and synthetic opioids, including fentanyl, according to one of several reports released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Lower death rates in the two leading causes of death – heart disease and cancer – contributed to Americans' increased longevity.

Americans can expect to live to an average age of 78.7 years, a gain of a 10th of a year compared with 2017 figures released a year ago. The gain reversed a three-year trend of decreases or no gains in life expectancy.

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More than half of 2018's life expectancy was due to declines in cancer and accidental deaths. Drug overdoses account for more than a third of all accidental deaths in the USA.

The 10 leading causes of death remained the same for the third year in a row, and the only increases were from suicides and the flu coupled with pneumonia. In addition to lower death rates for heart disease and cancer, deaths rates dropped for unintentional injuries, lower respiratory diseases, stroke and Alzheimer's.

"While modest, it's really great news that the data show progress" on the life expectancy and overdose fronts, said psychologist Benjamin Miller, chief strategy officer at the nonprofit Well Being Trust, which released its own Healing the Nation report Thursday.

At a White House briefing, Trump administration officials said the increase in life expectancy and the drop in drug overdose deaths are encouraging signs and show the administration’s efforts to combat opioid abuse are saving lives.

“It’s a turning point, and we hope it becomes a trend,” said presidential counselor Kellyanne Conway, who spearheads the administration’s fight against the opioid crisis. “What we are doing is working.”

Reductions in overdose deaths are the result of a "whole of government" approach, and there is no "silver bullet" for addressing the challenge of drug abuse, said Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“We have to treat this as a public health emergency, which we do," Giroir said.

Despite the gain in 2018, “we still don’t rate very well compared to the rest of the developed world” in terms of life expectancy, he said.

The Bipartisan Policy Center, a Washington think tank that combines ideas from both parties to promote health, security and opportunity, attempted to manage expectations and push for more hard work. In a statement, the center's chief medical adviser, Anand Parekh, noted, "The (life expectancy) figure is no different than it was back in 2010."

He recommended "rebdoubled" prevention efforts focused on the top five leading causes of death – heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases and stroke – and far more immediate attention on deaths from suicide, flu and pneumonia.

Parekh urged 50-state efforts to reduce overdose deaths, "addressing the unmet need for treatment and recovery and preventing opioid use disorder in the first place."

Miller credits the overdose antidote naloxone, which states and cities made available so emergency workers and others can save the lives of people overdosing on opioids.

Medication-assisted treatment – prescription drugs that decrease the craving for opioids – has become more available to treat people addicted to opioids. Neither MAT nor naloxone prevent addiction or deaths from cocaine, methamphetamine and other drugs people increasingly turn to as prescription opioid pain medicine becomes harder to get.

Though overdose deaths were down overall, the CDC report showed pockets of trouble. From 2012 to 2018, the rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine more than tripled, and the rate involving methamphetamine and other "psychostimulants with abuse potential" were up almost fivefold.

"We have to be a little bit optimistic that some of our approaches to the problems worked, but let’s strike while the iron's hot," Miller said.

Contributing: Ken Alltucker

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Life expectancy up for first time in four years, while drug overdose deaths drop by 4%