The United States is confronting a growing pediatric health crisis, with mounting evidence pointing to a decline in children’s overall health and wellbeing. A recent study revealed that children in the U.S. are dying at significantly higher rates than their peers in other high-income nations, underscoring the severity of the issue.1 2
The cross-sectional study was published last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association and found that from 2007 to 2023, U.S. children were 80 percent more likely to die than their peers in other high-income countries. The sources covered at least a decade of data, and the researchers analyzed hundreds of millions of health records from five nationally representative surveys and electronic health records.
Co-author of the children health study Chris Forrest, MD, PhD said that what is particularly frustrating is that the majority of the health problems and deaths occurring among children living in the U.S. are avoidable. Dr. Forrest also said the results were applicable to the total pediatric population and were not dependent upon socioeconomic status.1 3
For infants, the study cites premature birth, sudden infant death syndrome, and congenital anomalies as drivers of mortality. For children ages one to 19, causes of death were largely due to firearms, vehicle accidents, substance abuse, and homicide.3
Hellbound and Down 