U.S. women now live 6 years longer than men—and a lack of male-targeted mental health care might be to blame

Life expectancy in the U.S. for both genders is shortening—but more so for men than women, according to new research. (Credit: Getty Images)

The gap in life expectancy between U.S. women and men widened to nearly six years in 2021, reaching a near two-decade high due to COVID mortality and “twin crises of deaths from despair and firearm violence.”

That’s according to a research letter published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, authored by medical professionals at Harvard University, Boston University, the University of California, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention.