From npr:
When Dr. Christopher Forrest began his career in pediatrics some 25 years ago, he says it was pretty uncommon to see children come in with chronic conditions. But that’s changed. Nowadays, he says anecdotally, more children come into the hospital and even primary care practices with chronic disease.
In a new study in the journal JAMA, Forrest and his colleagues report that the health of America’s children has significantly worsened across several key indicators since 2007. They found that a U.S. child was 15% to 20% more likely to have a chronic condition in 2023 than a child in 2011. In particular, the prevalence of depression, anxiety, sleep apnea and obesity all increased, as did rates of autism, behavioral problems, developmental delays and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. Reports of problems such as poor sleep, limited physical activity, early-onset menstruation and loneliness also rose.