The health of children in the United States has seen a significant decline over the past 17 years, with a new study revealing a marked increase in obesity, chronic diseases, and mental health issues such as depression. While many of the findings were previously known, the research offers a comprehensive overview by simultaneously examining various aspects of children’s physical and mental well-being.
Dr Christopher Forrest, one of the authors of the study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, highlighted the pervasive nature of the problem. "The surprising part of the study wasn’t any with any single statistic; it was that there’s 170 indicators, eight data sources, all showing the same thing: a generalized decline in kids’ health," he stated.
The findings, drawn from surveys, electronic health records from 10 paediatric health systems, and international mortality statistics, paint a stark picture. Obesity rates for US children aged 2-19 rose from 17 per cent in 2007-2008 to approximately 21 per cent in 2021-2023. Furthermore, a US child in 2023 was 15 to 20 per cent more likely to have a chronic condition like anxiety, depression, or sleep apnoea compared to 2011, according to data reported by parents and doctors. The annual prevalence of 97 chronic conditions recorded by doctors also increased from about 40 per cent in 2011 to 46 per cent in 2023.
Beyond these, the study noted increases in early onset of menstruation, sleep disturbances, limitations in activity, physical symptoms, depressive symptoms, and loneliness among American children during the study period. Alarmingly, American children were around 1.8 times more likely to die than children in other high-income countries between 2007 and 2022. Causes such as premature birth and sudden unexpected death were significantly higher among US infants, while firearm-related incidents and motor vehicle crashes were far more common among 1-19-year-old American children compared to their peers in other examined nations.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought children's health into the national policy conversation, unveiling a "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) report in May that described children as undernourished and overmedicated, and raised concerns about their lack of physical activity. However, outside experts reviewing the new study suggest that the Trump administration's actions – including cuts to federal health agencies, Medicaid, and scientific research – are unlikely to reverse the trend.
Dr Frederick Rivara, a paediatrician and researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital and UW Medicine, who co-authored an editorial accompanying the study, commented: "The health of kids in America is not as good as it should be, not as good as the other countries, and the current policies of this administration are definitely going to make it worse." The editorial also criticised the MAHA movement for pursuing policies that "will work against the interests of children," citing the elimination of injury prevention and maternal health programmes, the cancellation of investments in addressing sudden infant death, and "fueling vaccine hesitancy among parents that may lead to a resurgence of deadly vaccine-preventable diseases."
Dr Forrest, a paediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, views the research as indicative of broader societal issues. "Kids are the canaries in the coal mine," he explained. "When kids’ health changes, it’s because they’re at increased vulnerability, and it reflects what’s happening in society at large." He noted that while risks highlighted by the MAHA report, such as excessive ultra-processed food consumption, are real, they fail to capture the complex reality driving these trends. "We have to step back and take some lessons from the ecological sustainability community and say: Let’s look at the ecosystem that kids are growing up in. And let’s start on a kind of neighborhood-by-neighborhood, city-by-city basis, examining it," he urged.
Dr James Perrin, a paediatrician and spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, who was not involved in the study, acknowledged some limitations in the datasets, noting they may not be applicable to the entire US population. However, he affirmed: "The basic finding is true." Officials from the U.S. Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for comment.
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