Orphanhood and caregiver death among children in the United States by all-cause mortality, 2000–2021
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Deaths of parents and grandparent caregivers threaten child well-being owing to losses of care, financial support, safety and family stability, but are relatively unrecognized as a public health crisis. Here we used cause-specific vital statistics death registrations in a modeling approach to estimate the full magnitude of orphanhood incidence and prevalence among US children aged 0–17 years between 2000 and 2021 by cause, child age, race and ethnicity, sex of deceased parent and state, and also accounted for grandparent caregiver loss using population survey data. In 2021, we estimate that 2.91 million children (4.2% of children) had in their lifetime experienced prevalent orphanhood and caregiver death combined, with incidence increasing by 49.5% and prevalence by 7.9% since 2000. Populations disproportionately affected by orphanhood included 5.2% of all adolescents; 6.4% and 4.7%, respectively, of non-Hispanic American Indian or Alaska Native, and non-Hispanic Black children; and children in southern and eastern states. In 2021, drug overdose was the leading cause of orphanhood among non-Hispanic white children, but not among minoritized subgroups. Effective policies and programs to support nearly three million bereaved children are needed to reduce the acute and long-term negative effects of orphanhood.
Source: Nature Medicine
Authors: Andrés Villaveces, Yu Chen, Sydney Tucker, Alexandra Blenkinsop, Lucie Cluver, Lorraine Sherr, Jan L. Losby, Linden Graves, Rita Noonan, Francis Annor, Victor Kojey-Merle, Douhan Wang, Greta Massetti, Laura Rawlings, Charles A. Nelson, H. Juliette T. Unwin, Seth Flaxman, Susan Hillis, Oliver Ratmann
Institutions: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Imperial College London, University of Oxford, University of Cape Town, University College London, World Bank, World Bank Group, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University, University of Bristol
Language: English
Subfield: Clinical Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $12,690
Funders: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Oak Foundation, World Health Organization, UK Research and Innovation, Moderna, London Mathematical Society, Research Councils UK, Imperial College London, University of Oxford, National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Medical Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Awards: G1649372110, Spatiotemporal statistical machine learning (ST-SML): theory, methods, and applications, G4591806611, G6583303647, G7543494365, G7560532233, EPSRC Centre for Doctoral Training in Modern Statistics and Statistical Machine Learning, Boston Children's Hospital/HMS Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center
OpenAlex ID: W4406232050