Earlier this year a study pointed out the white people in general were seeing the number of years they were expected to live being shortened, and the research blamed the drop on things like drugs, alcohol, and suicide, but a new look at the data is saying the increase in death rates only applies to white women, and not to white men as well.

An article on the Huffington Post says this new analysis by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) is affirming the new look.

In the year from 2013 to 2014, the life expectancy of white women fell from 81.2 years to 81.1 years, which doesn’t seem like much, but is apparently quite a big deal, according to the author of the new study, Elizabeth Arias, a demographer at NCHS.

Calling the dip “significant,” Arias said an increase of one-tenth on the mortality rate can add up, and those lost months could stack up quickly.

The life expectancy rates were stable among white men, and black women over the same period, while black men and both sexes of Hispanics saw their rates increase.  Since the beginning of the collection of the data, the CDC has reported that Hispanics have the highest rate of life expectancy, and blacks have the lowest, but blacks have been closing the gap in recent years.

Arias said the new report did contain information on the causes of the decrease in life expectancy for white women, but the agency has unpublished data that indicated accidents, unintentional injury, such as drug and alcohol poisoning, suicide, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis may have contributed to the decline.

Most experts are saying that the poor, less-educated white women are the ones most affected by the rising rates of mortality.  A 2015 report found that middle-aged white people without a college education had a rising mortality rate from 1999 through 2013, mainly due to suicide, and drug and alcohol complications.

Another study pointed out the middle-aged women of all races who are in the bottom one percent of income levels have a life expectancy 10 years shorter that their peers in the top one percent of income.

The president announced a new initiative to combat substance abuse, committing $94 million in new funding for disorder treatment and health centers.  Whether this can stem the tide remains to be seen.