Major study reveals the true state of children's health... as chronic conditions are up 20%
Researchers in Pennsylvania and California analyzed online health data for children who were ages zero to 19 in the US in 2023 and compared it those the same age in past years.
They found in 2023, children in the US were up to 20 percent more likely to develop a chronic condition like anxiety, diabetes and autism than kids in 2011.
Depression saw the greatest increase, with children and teens in 2023 approximately three times more likely to develop the mental health condition in 2011.
Children and teens were also 2.5 times more likely to be diagnosed with autism, which has surged in the US due to what experts suspect is increased awareness and environmental toxins.
The report also found kids and teens are nearly twice as likely to die earlier than their peers in other wealthy nations, particularly with a 15-fold increased risk of dying to gun violence.
Infant mortality also increased. The report found babies born in the US were almost twice as likely to die by their first birthday compared to those in other rich nations.
The report comes months after health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr laid bare the stark health issues facing young Americans including obesity, depression and autoimmune diseases and vowed to tackle them during his tenure.
Experts believe chronic illnesses in children are on the rise due to increased prevalence of chemicals and toxins, poor diet and better awareness and diagnostic processes. The study researchers, however, did not give specific reasons.
They wrote: 'The health of US children has worsened across a wide range of health indicator domains over the past 17 years.
'The broad scope of this deterioration highlights the need to identify and address the root causes of this fundamental decline in the nation's health.'
Published this week in the journal JAMA, the study analyzed health survey data from US databases and those encompassing 18 other wealthy nations.
The team found the average American child is between 15 and 20 percent more likely to be diagnosed with a chronic condition compared to a child in 2011.
A total of 22 conditions were found to increase by at least 10 percent between 2010 and 2023, with depression showing the biggest rise.
Children in 2023 were found to be 3.3 times more likely than their peers in 2010 to be diagnosed with major depression and 3.2 times more likely to develop sleep apnea or an eating disorder
Researchers in other recent studies have tied growing rates of depression in young people to social media use, global events like the Covid pandemic and exposure to violence, such as school shootings.
In fact, the JAMA report found US children are 15 times more likely to die to gun violence than their peers in other countries.
In 2023, children were 2.3 times more likely than those in 2010 to suffer from sleep apnea, which may be tied to growing obesity rates as increased fat deposits in the neck and abdomen narrow the airway and reduce lung capacity.
The risk of autism has also increased 2.6-fold since 2010. It falls in line with the latest data that shows one in 31 children in the US are thought to have autism, a staggering increase from about one in 150 in the early 2000s.
RFK Jr has suggested environmental toxins like pesticides and food additives may be to blame, but other researchers suggest the rise is from better diagnostic criteria.
Meanwhile, infants were found to be 1.8 times more likely to die before age one in 2022 compared to 2007. And over 16 years, the US also experienced the equivalent of 54 excess child deaths per day compared to peer nations.
This is likely due to a 2.2-fold increased risk of being born premature and 2.4-fold increased risk of suffering sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the unexplained death of an infant under one year.
Preterm birth rates have been tied to an increase in older mothers and conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure.
There were several limitations to the new report, including a lack of data on the causes of the chronic disease increases.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
an hour ago
- The Guardian
Children limiting own smartphone use to manage mental health, survey finds
Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and concentration spans, research has revealed. They are reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits, according to experts. The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries. Prof Sonia Livingstone, the director of the LSE's Digital Futures for Children centre, said these findings were echoed in soon to be published research, which has found that children and young people are trying various options to manage how their online lives affect their wellbeing, including taking a break from social media, distracting themselves from negativity online, seeking more positive experiences on the internet and in some cases quitting social media altogether. Livingstone said: 'Children have got the message – from their parents, the media, their own experiences – that too much social media isn't always good for them. 'So they are experimenting with different ways of protecting their wellbeing, without wanting to give up on social media entirely. I'm sure they're talking to each other about what works for them and figuring out the way ahead.' Daisy Greenwell, the co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, said she was increasingly speaking to young people who were 'questioning the idea that growing up online is inevitable'. She said: 'We regularly hear from teenagers who are exhausted by the pressure of being permanently connected and who are choosing to step back for their own mental health. 'Many of them are waking up to the fact that these platforms aren't neutral. They're designed to manipulate attention … They are realising that their time, focus and self-esteem are being monetised by some of the world's biggest companies. Taking a break has become an act of rebellion.' This is reflected in Ofcom research. A report from 2024 found that a third (33%) of eight- to 17-year-olds who are online think their screen time is too high, while another found that 47% of 16- to 24-year-olds who use social media deactivate notifications and used 'do not disturb' mode, an increase from 40% in 2023, and compared with 28% of older adult users. Thirty-four per cent of younger people were more likely to take a deliberate break from social media (compared with 23% who said they would not do this), 29% would delete apps because they spend too much time on them (compared with 19% who would not), and 24% would delete apps for their mental health (compared with 13% who would not). David Ellis, a professor of behavioural science at the University of Bath, noted that teenagers may have discovered the features that let people control their time on social media and smartphones more quickly than their parents – though evidence that these features change behaviour in the long term was mixed, he said. Ellis said: 'If someone is going to spend less time sitting in front of a screen and instead increase their levels of physical activity, then most people would probably view that as a net positive. On the other hand, that time could be replaced by something else less beneficial.' Young people aged 18 to 25 who spoke to the Guardian previously said they felt their 'parent's generation didn't have a clue' and had granted them too much access to smartphones too young, while several said they would restrict access for their own children until their late teens. A recent poll found that almost half of young people would rather live in a world where the internet did not exist and a similar proportion would support a digital curfew, while more than three-quarters felt worse about themselves after using social media. The GWI research also found that social media addiction ranked among parents' top three fears for their children from a list that included climate change, war and the cost of housing, while 8% said they had become tougher about screen-time limits after watching the hit Netflix show Adolescence about the dangers of online misogyny.
Reuters
4 hours ago
- Reuters
Oura ring maker faces trio of stock option lawsuits by ex-promoters. What happened?
July 9 (Reuters) - What do a former NFL quarterback, a prominent doctor and a marketing expert have in common? They all say they cut deals to promote health-tracking smart ring Oura in exchange for stock options worth millions of dollars that the company later refused to honor. And now, they all are suing. Disputes over the valuation of stock options — considered the lifeblood of Silicon Valley — are not rare. But the three separate cases, including a claim by former Super Bowl MVP Drew Brees, against San Francisco-based Oura Ring and its Finnish parent Oura Health Oy present a thorny issue that courts across the country continue to grapple with. That is, when two parties agree to arbitrate in one context, how broadly does that stretch to cover other disputes? More specifically, how is it that despite similar allegations, Brees in late May was ordered, opens new tab by a San Francisco Superior Court judge to arbitrate his case in Helsinki under Finnish law, while a comparable suit by physician and writer Peter Attia survived review, opens new tab in March by the 9th U.S. Court of Appeals and is now proceeding in federal court in Oakland, California? Brees and Attia, as well as their outside counsel, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did Oura or its lawyers from Buchalter and McMahon Serepca. To date, the litigation has focused more on procedural questions than the merits, but Oura in court papers, opens new tab has denied wrongdoing and said that its board of directors never authorized the stock option grants, making the deals invalid. The most recent suit was filed last week by marketer Gordy Bal, a Victoria, Canada-based author and founder of CTR Capital, and it lays out a now-familiar set of claims against Oura. According to the complaint, opens new tab filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Bal was an early investor in Oura, as well as serving as the company's 'primary marketing arm' in its early years as a cash-strapped start-up. Oura, which was founded in Finland in 2013, makes a smart ring that tracks health data such as heart rate, sleep stages and physical activity. In 2018, Bal said he invested 400,000 euros in Oura and also struck a deal with the company's then-CEO Harpreet Singh Rai to provide heavily discounted marketing and media services. In exchange, Bal said he got stock options that were contingent on Oura reaching certain sales targets. The privately held company went on to experience explosive growth. According to a press release, opens new tab, Oura after its latest round of financing was valued at $5.2 billion in December 2024. But when Bal last year tried to exercise his stock options — 670,841 common shares that he estimates are worth about $16 million — Oura 'formally indicated that it was unwilling and unable' to allow him to do so, his complaint alleges. 'All that my client wants is for Oura to honor its end of the bargain, since he honored his,' Susman Godfrey partner Jenna Farleigh, who represents Bal, told me. The first hurdle may be jurisdiction — and that's where Attia and Brees' fates have sharply diverged. Attia in 2023 was the first to file suit. Like Bal, the doctor invested in Oura and also provided advisory and promotional services in exchange for purported stock options. Oura in arguing, opens new tab Attia was required to arbitrate his claim pointed to its 'broad' shareholders agreement covering investments in the company. The agreement specifies the Finnish forum and choice of law and applies to disputes including the 'transfer of Equity Securities.' U.S. District Judge Haywood Gilliam in Oakland was not persuaded, ruling, opens new tab in 2024 that the arbitration provision didn't apply. In March, the 9th Circuit in an unpublished opinion, opens new tab upheld his decision. Attia 'agreed to arbitrate claims arising from his relationship as a shareholder, but not those arising in other contexts' such as his work as an adviser to Oura, Gilliam found. He likened the circumstances to the 9th Circuit's 2023 decision in Johnson v. Walmart, opens new tab. In that case, the appeals court held that just because a Walmart customer agreed to arbitrate disputes involving online purchases, that agreement didn't cover in-store engagements. Brees' lawsuit, opens new tab has played out differently. He sued in 2024 in San Francisco state court and successfully opposed removal to the Northern District of California. Brees alleges that in 2018, he signed a deal for what turned out to be more than 400,000 shares of stock for promoting the Oura ring. The company never actually tapped him to do any work, he acknowledges. Still, he said he was 'ready, willing, and able' to do so in claiming that he's entitled to the promised stock options. Like Bal and Attia, Brees signed a short options agreement that makes no mention of arbitration but does state that it incorporates the terms of Oura's "2018 equity plan." All parties agree there is no 2018 plan — it doesn't exist. But Oura did have a 2016 equity plan, which it revised in 2019, and both of those mandate arbitration. Good enough, Judge Harold Kahn, who retired in 2022 but continues to hear cases, ruled on May 29. The reference to the 2018 plan was 'a mistake,' he held in adopting Oura's proposed three-page order, opens new tab compelling arbitration and was 'objectively intended to be to either the 2016 equity plan or the 2019 equity plan.' What reasoning will carry the day in Bal's case remains to be seen, but the ramifications may go beyond a long flight to Helsinki for a hearing behind closed doors. According to Oura, under Finnish law only the board of directors – and not the CEO – of a Finnish company can approve the issuance of equity. If so, that would seem to support the company's defense that all the options grants are in fact invalid.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
The health benefits of sun exposure you might not know
While excessive sun exposure carries risks such as skin damage and melanoma, moderate exposure offers potential health benefits. Studies have linked sunshine to lower blood pressure and suggest it may be a strategy for preventing heart failure. Research indicates that the sun 's ultraviolet B rays can support a healthy immune system and protect the central nervous system. Ultraviolet light exposure is known to improve symptoms for conditions like eczema and is used in light therapy for psoriasis. Despite the benefits, it is crucial to remember that any tan signifies skin damage, and skin cancer, including melanoma, remains a significant risk, affecting all skin types.
