I wonder if there are regional health risks. Some areas have higher than average focus on health and fitness than others.

Environment may have something to do with it.

Higher crime rates in inner cities vs rural areas might have something to do with it as well.

FWIW

Stress as well.

I'm only 62. But a lot of classmates evidently lived fast and died young. And at the time I saw that figure, we were only 58.

Showtalk said:

That number seems high but could be common.

More hazards seen by more of them.

The number who were murdered was actually an unexpected surprise. But then the heart attacks - a lot of them smoked like chimneys, even back when we were still in high school. Many dipped snuff or chewed tobacco, so oral cancers wouldn't surprise me either after 3 to 4 decades of such an addictive habit.

And I know of at least one in the class right before mine who died of a drug overdose, and was the subject of a forensic investigation of his remains, when found a year later. Seems his so-called "friends" panicked and fled, and they ended up charged with voluntary manslaughter or something and went to prison. That was decades ago when they were all still in their late 20s or early 30s.

$1,661.87 in cats (ROCKETMAN_S) said...

I'm only 62. But a lot of classmates evidently lived fast and died young. And at the time I saw that figure, we were only 58.

So you're just a year younger than me.

I'm not sure of the cause of death for a lot of my classmates, but I do know that 8 died in car crashes, 2 on motorcycles, we had about 10 or so who over dosed on drugs and then the heart attacks, strokes and other diseases... some from cancer.

There was one strange guy though... actually, he was 2 years my senior... but he died in a shootout with the police. It was an 8 hour shootout... he killed one police officer and wounded 3 others. When he finally dropped to the ground, the autopsy report said that he was hit more than 80 times but just wouldn't go down! That shooting made state-wide news. He was in his late 40s or early 50s when that happened. Friends of mine said that he had become a bit mentally deranged.

FWIW

They could have called the police even anonymously.  I’m glad they were able to track them down.

Showtalk said:

They could have called the police even anonymously. I’m glad they were able to track them down.

They also could have dropped him at the nearest emergency room while he was still alive.

But then the dude apparently was so awful to some people that his premature demise was to them, "good riddance."

He didn’t pick his friends well.

Showtalk said:

He didn’t pick his friends well.

True. He picked more fellow druggies, and that led to his demise.