Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Mortality in the U.S.

COVID-19 was a leading cause of death among children and young people from August 2021 through July 2022, ranking eighth for all causes and first for infectious causes.

Although children account for only 0.1% of COVID-19 deaths, almost 1500 who were younger than 18 years have died since the pandemic's beginning, significantly more than the number of deaths due to influenza.

Researchers examined national population-level, cross-sectional data from 2019 through 2022, utilizing CDC and other sources to identify and compare the underlying causes of U.S. deaths among individuals younger than 19 years. In all, 821 deaths (1.0/100,000 population) were attributable to COVID-19 during the study period (August 2021 through July 2022), when Delta and Omicron were circulating. Children younger than 1 year had the highest COVID-19 death rate (4.3/100,000). In 2019, prior to the pandemic, the leading cause of death in in…

Reviewing Author

Deborah Lehman, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Deborah Lehman, MD

Disclosures

Nothing to disclose

Impact of COVID-19 on Pediatric Mortality in the U.S.

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Reviewing Author