Why Are We Talking About "All Cause Mortality"?

You and I know.

People all over the world are suddenly and “mysteriously” concerned with this phrase “all cause mortality.” I find it somewhat amusing how many phrases are taking hold in the mainstream, not just the media but from the mouths of people who can barely pronounce the words “acute pericarditis.”

“All cause mortality,” “mild myocarditis,” “pericarditis,” “tachycardia,” “arrythmia,” “POTS disease,” “sudden adult death syndrome,” “transient ischemic attack,” an assortment of cancer varieties and then the simpler, “fainting” and “seizure” are rolling off the tongues of people on TikTok who a year ago only knew about what the Kardashians had for breakfast, who was on Dr. Phil last Wednesday and the lyrics of “Wet Ass Pussy.” I’m embarrassed I even know the title.

The reason these terms are suddenly so common is because the incidents are becoming more common and prevalent. When your brother, two of your cousins, the girl who does your nails and the one who braids your hair all have fainting spells, it’s going to come up in conversation. The names of the causes get repeated. You and I begin to notice that the language of society is transforming.

Almost everything I hear lately in conversation has a health event involved that sounds pretty similar to the health events I heard about in other conversations, none of which were prevalent health occurrences one year ago.

While you and I may get frustrated (I don’t anymore) that the conversations don’t ever seem to lead anyone to look for reasons why the events took place out of the blue in the past year, I would just like to point out how innocuously people seem to have adopted an entire new language based around rare cancers, blood clots, strokes, seizures and heart disease.

More importantly, that they don’t even notice it.

“Queen Elizabeth…Cardi B…myopericarditis…”

Welcome to the new normal.