U.S. deaths escalated last year in connection to suicides and drug overdoses, driving a continuing the decline in American’s life expectancy. The trend is also showing up in Tennessee. Officials with the Tennessee Suicide Prevention network say that those types of deaths rose from 2016 to 2017. They also say that the number of female suicides is also rising. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said the rate of drug overdose deaths increased by 9.6 percent from last year. Suicide by nearly four percent. The Christmas holiday season always sees an increase in such activity.