Death Rates, Falling for Decades, Have Flattened

Gains in the American life span have slowed in recent years, according to a new report, with death rates flattening for the first time since researchers started measuring them in the late 1960s.

Researchers from the American Cancer Society used federal mortality data to analyze trends in longevity from 1969 to 2013. Death rates in the United States have been declining for decades, an effect of improvements in health care, disease management and medical technology -- and the researchers had expected to find more of the same.