1. A large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999, according to a review of statistics that shows a sharp reversal in decades of progress toward longer lives. 2. An increase in the mortality rate for any large demographic group in an advanced nation has been virtually unheard of in recent decades, with the exception of Russian men after the collapse of the Soviet Union. 3. The rising death rate was accompanied by an increase in the rate of illness, the authors wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 4. The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace. 5. Drug addiction experts have warned that increased addiction to drugs by such a large segment of the population can pose a huge social burden on the next generation of Americans. ___