In 1960, infant deaths from short gestation/low birth weight and congenital anomalies (described in federal reports as “congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities”) occurred at rates of 457 and 361 per 100,000 live births, respectively (Singh and Yu, 1995). As infectious disease mortality has declined in significance, unintentional and intentional injuries have emerged as leading causes of death, especially for children past infancy. During the past 40 years, infant deaths due to pneumonia and influenza fell from 314 per 100,000 live births in 1960 to 8 per 100,000 in 1999 (Singh and Yu, 1995 NCHS, 2001b). Substantial declines in mortality have continued in recent decades. Today, only pneumonia (in combination with influenza) is among the top 10 causes of death overall or for children.
In 1900, pneumonia and influenza, tuberculosis, and enteritis with diarrhea were the three leading causes of death in the United States, and children under 5 accounted for 40 percent of all deaths from these infections (CDC, 1999a). Leading Causes of Death in Childhood Have Changed Instead of being a sad but common family experience, death in childhood now stands out as a particular tragedy, at least in developed nations such as the United States.
#Beach life in death tab professional#
Thousands more siblings, grandparents, other family members, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, and professional caregivers are touched by these deaths. Nonetheless, each year in this country, thousands of parents lose their children to conditions such as prematurity, congenital anomalies, injuries, and diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
In the United States, the average life expectancy at birth rose from less than 50 years in 1900 to more than 76 years in 1999, due in considerable measure to continuing reductions in infant and child mortality (NCHS, 2001c). Children who previously would have perished from an array of childhood infections today live healthy and long lives thanks to sanitation improvements, vaccines, and antibiotics. Many infants who once would have died from prematurity, complications of childbirth, and congenital anomalies (birth defects) now survive. This decrease in mortality reflects a century's worth of advances in public health, living standards, medical science and technology, and clinical practice. Infant mortality dropped from approximately 100 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1915 (the first year for which data to calculate an infant mortality rate were available) to 29.2 deaths per 1,000 births in 1950 and 7.1 per 1,000 in 1999 (CDC, 1999b NCHS, 2001a). In 1900, 30 percent of all deaths in the United States occurred in children less than 5 years of age compared to just 1.4 percent in 1999 (CDC, 1999a NCHS, 2001a). The chapter ends with a short discussion of conclusions and implications for health care providers and policymakers. The discussion begins, however, by briefly putting life-threatening illness and death during childhood in the broader context of child health and illness in the United States. It also reviews information about where children die. This chapter summarizes information about the death rates and leading causes of death for children of different ages. 1 Wordsworth's implicit hope is far more a reality today than during the time 200 years past when the poet's two youngest children died. Reflecting their generally good health, children accounted for only 2 percent of all deaths-about 55,000 compared to more than a half million deaths for adults aged 20 to 64 and 1.8 million for those age 65 and over (NCHS, 2001a).
In 1999, children aged 0 to 19 accounted for 29 percent, or 77.8 million, of the U.S.
A simple child, that lightly draws its breath, And feels its life in every limb, What should it know of death?