Child and teen mortality in the U.S. experiences largest increase in decades

Continued from A1 occurred last night.

“If you own a gun, I am begging you, lock it up so that we can prevent unnecessary loss that will be felt for a lifetime,” Mayor Stoney added.

The Richmond shootings occurred days before new research was released showing that child and teen mortality rates in the U.S. are seeing its largest increase in 50 years. An editorial published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, points out that the increases “follow decades of progress in lowering the rate of death from childhood diseases. As a result, alarming spikes in pediatric mortality primarily is due from homicide, accidental drug overdoses, motor vehicle accidents and suicide among those ages 10 to 19.”

The JAMA editorial is co-authored by Dr. Steven Woolf, director emeritus of the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Elizabeth Wolf, an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the VCU School of Medicine and a pediatrician at the Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU, and Dr. Frederick Rivara, a professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington and Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

The research is based on analyzing death certificates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found a roughly 20 percent increase in mortality for people ages 1 to 19 between 2019 and 2021.

“Medicine and public health have made remarkable progress in lowering pediatric mortality rates, but the lives they have saved are now endangered by manmade pathogens,” the co-authors wrote in the editorial. “Bullets, drugs, and automobiles are now causing a youth death toll sufficient to elevate all-cause mortality rates, the largest such increase in recent memory.

“Without bold action to reverse the trend, children’s risk of not reaching adulthood may increase.”

While statistical information for similar mortality rates and their causes among Richmond youths isn’t readily available, the solutions the editorial’s co-authors suggest are similar to ones being advocated by city and community leaders.

Gun safety and easy access to firearms were cited by the researchers and local officials as a major problem in need of addressing, with several solutions proposed by those involved and those concerned.

“There’s clearly a need for sensible gun reform laws, but I know this is a very volatile subject politically in our country right now,” said Dr. Woolf. “But when it gets to the point where your kids are less likely to reach adulthood, then it’s time to take some action to try to save their lives.”