Life expectancy for Americans dropped in 2017 for the third consecutive year, according to new data published by the National Center for Health Statistics on Thursday. Life expectancy declined from 78.7 in 2016 to 78.6 last year, according to the Center, following drops between 2014 and 2015 and between 2015 and 2016. The life expectancy for men declined from 76.2 to 76.1 between 2016 and 2017, while it remained the same (81.1) for women. The 10 leading causes of death in 2017 were the same as in 2016: heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, chronic lower respiratory diseases, strokes, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, influenza and pneumonia, kidney disease and suicide.