As of 2022, the third leading cause of death among teenagers aged 15 to 19 years in the United States was intentional self-harm or suicide, contributing around 17 percent of deaths among age group. The leading cause of death at that time was unintentional injuries, contributing to around 37.4 percent of deaths, while 21.8 percent of all deaths in this age group were due to assault or homicide. Cancer and heart disease, the overall leading causes of death in the United States, are also among the leading causes of death among U.S. teenagers. Adolescent suicide in the United States In 2021, around 22 percent of students in grades 9 to 12 reported that they had seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Female students were around twice as likely to report seriously considering suicide compared to male students. In 2022, Montana had the highest rate of suicides among U.S. teenagers with around 39 deaths per 100,000 teenagers, followed by South Dakota with a rate of 33 per 100,000. The states with the lowest death rates among adolescents are New York and New Jersey. Mental health treatment Suicidal thoughts are a clear symptom of mental health issues. Mental health issues are not rare among children and adolescents, and treatment for such issues has become increasingly accepted and accessible. In 2021, around 15 percent of boys and girls aged 5 to 17 years had received some form of mental health treatment in the past year. At that time, around 35 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 years in the United States who were receiving specialty mental health services were doing so because they had thought about killing themselves or had already tried to kill themselves.

In 2022, the leading causes of death among children and adolescents in the United States aged 10 to 14 were unintentional injuries, intentional self-harm (suicide), and cancer. That year, unintentional injuries accounted for around 25 percent of all deaths among this age group. Leading causes of death among older teens Like those aged 10 to 14 years, the leading cause of death among older teenagers in the U.S. aged 15 to 19 years is unintentional injuries. In 2022, unintentional injuries accounted for around 37 percent of all deaths among older teens. However, unlike those aged 10 to 14, the second leading cause of death among teens aged 15 to 19 is assault or homicide. Sadly, the third leading cause of death among this age group is suicide, making suicide among the leading three causes of death for both age groups. Teen suicide Suicide remains a major problem among teenagers in the United States, as reflected in the leading causes of death among this age group. It was estimated that in 2021, around 22 percent of high school students in the U.S. considered attempting suicide in the past year, with this rate twice as high for girls than for boys. The states with the highest death rates due to suicide among adolescents aged 15 to 19 years are Montana, South Dakota, and New Mexico. In 2022, the death rate from suicide among this age group in Montana was 39 per 100,000 population. In comparison, New York, the state with the lowest rate, had just five suicide deaths among those aged 15 to 19 years per 100,000 population.

Over the last few years, gun violence in the United States has become an increasingly deadly public health crisis. In 2021, firearms were the leading cause of death for children and adolescents aged one to 19 years old for a second year in a row in the United States, with 4,733 deaths from firearms, which accounted for more deaths than car crashes and other diseases in that year. This is an increase from the previous year, when there were 4,357 deaths from firearms. Gun violence in the U.S.
Along with a rise in gun-related deaths, the United States has been experiencing an overall increase in gun violence, including mass shootings, school shootings, and gun homicides. Not surprisingly, the United States has also reported in increase in gun sales, with the unit sales for firearms reaching a new high in recent years. A uniquely American problem
Despite the rise of gun violence and gun-related deaths, guns remain easily accessible in the United States and gun control has become a divisive issue throughout the nation. However, gun control proponents often call attention to the uniquely American phenomenon of school shootings. Since 2018, the annual number of incidents involving firearms at K-12 schools in the U.S. reached over 100 in each year, while similar incidents in other countries with strict gun laws are exceptionally rare..

This report presents findings from the third (wave 3) in a series of follow up reports to the 2017 Mental Health of Children and Young People (MHCYP) survey, conducted in 2022. The sample includes 2,866 of the children and young people who took part in the MHCYP 2017 survey. The mental health of children and young people aged 7 to 24 years living in England in 2022 is examined, as well as their household circumstances, and their experiences of education, employment and services and of life in their families and communities. Comparisons are made with 2017, 2020 (wave 1) and 2021 (wave 2), where possible, to monitor changes over time.

The leading causes of death among children aged 5 to 9 years in the United States in 2022 were unintentional injuries, cancer, and congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, unintentional injuries accounted for around 28 percent of all deaths among this age group. Child abuse in the U.S. Sadly, assault or homicide, was the fourth leading cause of death among those aged 5 to 9 years in the United States in 2022, accounting for around 9.4 percent of all deaths. That year, there were around 113,259 cases of child abuse in the U.S. among children aged 6 to 9 years and 129,846 cases among children aged 2 to 5 years. In 2022, there were around 5.36 child deaths per day in the United States due to abuse and neglect. Suicide among children Assault or homicide was also among the top five leading causes of death among children aged 10 to 14 years, but perhaps even more troubling is that suicide is the second leading cause of death among this age group. As with younger children, unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among those aged 10 to 14 years, however, suicide accounts for around 13 percent of all deaths among this age group. Comparatively, suicide is not among the ten-leading causes of death among children from the age 1 to 9 years.

Rank, number of deaths, percentage of deaths, and age-specific mortality rates for the leading causes of death, by age group and sex, 2000 to most recent year.

In 1991, the birth rate for girls aged 10 to 14 years in the United States stood at 1.4 births per every thousand girls. Since 1991, this rate has consistently decreased, dropping to .2 in the year 2022. This statistic depicts the number of births per thousand U.S. females aged 10 to 14 years between 1991 and 2022.

Teenage pregnancy and contraception

Over the years, the rate of teenage pregnancy and birth has declined in the United States, most likely due to lower rates of sexual activity in this age group as well as increased use of birth control methods. However, use and accessibility of contraceptives remains a problem in many parts of the United States. For example, in 2021, only 21 percent of sexually active high school students reported using the birth control pill to prevent pregnancy before their last sexual intercourse. This rate was highest among white high students and lowest among Black students, with only 11 percent reporting use of the birth control pill before their last intercourse. Condom use is more prevalent among high school students than use of the pill, but still only just over half of high school students reported using a condom the last time they had sex as of 2021.

Disparities in teenage pregnancy

Although rates have decreased over the past decades, teenage pregnancy and birth rates in the U.S. are still higher than in other Western countries. Geographic, racial, and ethnic disparities in teen birth rates are still prevalent within the country. In 2022, teenage birth rates were highest among American Indians or Alaska Natives. Other contributing factors to high teen birth rates also include poor socioeconomic conditions, low education, and low-income status.

BackgroundDepressive disorders, with a prevalence of 15–21%, are among the most common disorders in children and adolescents, and increases the risk of suicide, the second leading cause of death in children aged 10 to 19.AimTo determine the prevalence and correlates of depressive disorders among senior students attending secondary schools in Abeokuta.MethodThe study was conducted in five schools randomly selected from a representative sample and was carried out in 2 phases. In the first phase, students were selected via systematic random sampling and given consent forms and GHQ-12 to administer to the parents. In the second phase, students who returned a signed informed consent form and filled out GHQ-12 were interviewed using MINI-KID, Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale, Family-APGAR, and sociodemographic questionnaire. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted with p-value

In 2022, the leading causes of death for children aged one to four years in the United States were unintentional injuries and congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities. At that time, around 31 percent of all deaths among these children were caused by unintentional injuries. Differences in causes of death among children by age Just as unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death among children aged one to four, it is also the leading cause of death for the age groups five to nine and 10 to 14. However, congenital malformations, deformations, and chromosomal abnormalities account for fewer deaths as children become older, while the share of deaths caused by cancer is higher among those aged five to nine and 10 to 14. In fact, cancer is the second leading cause of death among five to nine-year-olds, accounting for around 15 percent of all deaths. Sadly, the second leading cause of death among children aged 10 to 14 is intentional self-harm, with 13 percent of all deaths among those in this age group caused by suicide. Leading causes of death in the United States The leading causes of death in the United States are heart disease and malignant neoplasms. Together, these two diseases accounted for around 40 percent of all deaths in the United States in 2022. That year, COVID-19 was the fourth leading cause of death, with about six percent of all deaths caused by COVID-19. In 2022, the lifetime odds that the average person in the United States would die from heart disease was one in six, while the odds for cancer were one in seven and for COVID-19 one in 23.

Developmental language disorder occurs in 5 to 8% of all mono- or multilingual preschool children (Calder et al., 2022; Norbury et al., 2016; Tomblin et al., 1997; Wu et al., 2023), thus is more common than attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. In addition, 2 to 3% have communication and language disorders associated with intellectual disability, autism or other developmental disabilities (Norbury et al., 2016). Furthermore, these conditions rarely occur in isolation and overlap between them is very common (Gillberg, 2010; Fernell & Gillberg, 2023). For example, all children with autism have communication/ social interaction disorders as a core feature and approximately 50 per cent have co-existing language disorders (Kjellmer et al., 2018). In addition, children with ADHD have language disorders 3 times as often as children without ADHD, affecting functional communication (Redmond, 2016; Korrel et al., 2017).

Previous research on how children diagnosed with developmental language disorder (DLD) fare when they grow up rests entirely on clinical cases. Longitudinal follow-ups of population-representative cohorts are still warranted and are completely lacking in Sweden. Those that exist are based on clinical groups, not population-representative groups followed as systematically as in the current project. One Swedish example of a clinical follow-up of children with severe DLD (~2% of all children), who attended special language preschools, where Speech and Language Pathologists work together with pedagogical staff in daily activities was studied by Ek et al., 2012. A follow-up of 25 children as teenagers was performed. Parents of 23 teenagers participated in a clinical interview that requested information on the child’s current academic achievement, type of school, previous clinical assessments, and developmental diagnoses. Fifteen children participated in a speech and language assessment, and 13 participated in a cognitive assessment. Results: Seven of the 23 teenagers had a mild intellectual disability, and another three had borderline intellectual functioning. Nine had symptoms of disorders on the autism spectrum; five of these had an autism spectrum disorder, and four had clear autistic traits. Six met the criteria for ADHD)/subthreshold ADHD. Thirteen of 15 teenagers had a moderate or severe language disorder, and 13 of 15 had a moderate or severe reading disorder. Overlapping disorders were frequent. None of the individuals who underwent the clinical evaluation were free from developmental problems. Thus, many children with speech and language disorders at preschool age had persistent language problems and/or met the criteria for developmental diagnoses other than speech and language impairment at their follow-up as teenagers.

The main aim of the current project, which is a longitudinal cohort study with registry-based follow-up, is to follow up the child cohort of children who participated in the lead researcher's previous thesis project (Miniscalco, 2007) after population screening at Child Health Services (CHS) (In Swedish BVC) at the age of 2.5 years. In an experimental study, 25 children with a positive language screening result (=developmental language disorder) and 80 children who had a negative language screening result (= typical language development) were recruited (Miniscalco, 2007). These children were matched on age and CHS centre. The CHS nurse referred 3 controls (i.e. negative screen children) to every child with a positive screen result, to create blindness when the speech and language pathologist examined the children within three months after the language screening.

All children then participated in the 4-year visit at CHS including language and general developmental screening. At age 6 years all children were invited to a new language examination and 99 participated, 22 from the DLD group and 77 from the typical developing group. Children in the DLD group were invited to a multidisciplinary assessment and 21 of them participated at age 7-8 years of age.

These young adults are now (2024) almost 30 years old, born in 1995-96. The follow-up will focus on how these individuals who were carefully examined as children (at 2.5 years, 4 years, 6 years and 7-8 years) fared in terms of 1) results from the 4-year visit to the CHS, 2) eligibility for upper secondary school, 3) ICD-10 diagnoses in open and closed specialist care, 4) psychiatric medication, 5) employment and 6) social benefits/financial support. The project is mainly based on routinely collected register data from national authority registers.

The project is also motivated by the fact that a diagnosis of language disorder in Sweden is established by speech and language pathologists and is therefore not reported in the National Board of Health and Welfare's patient register PAR, except in exceptional cases, where there are only diagnoses as doctors in specialized outpatient or inpatient care registers. This means that the prevalence of language disorder cannot be captured via registers and that there is therefore still a great need for more knowledge about what it is like to grow up with DLD.

The 1990 Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a nationally representative survey conducted by the Federal Office of Statistics with the aim of gathering reliable information on fertility, family planning, infant and child mortality, maternal care, vaccination status, breastfeeding, and nutrition. Data collection took place two years after implementation of the National Policy on Population and addresses issues raised by that policy. Fieldwork for the NDHS was conducted in two phases: from April to July 1990 in the southern states and from July to October 1990 in the northern states. Interviewers collected information on the reproductive histories of 8,781 women age 15-49 years and on the health of their 8,113 children under the age of five years. OBJECTIVES The Nigeria Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) is a national sample survey of women of reproductive age designed to collect data on socioeconomic characteristics, marriage patterns, history of child bearing, breastfeeding, use of contraception, immunisation of children, accessibility to health and family planning services, treatment of children during episodes of illness, and the nutritional status of children. The primary objectives of the NDHS are: (i) To collect data for the evaluation of family planning and health programmes; (ii) To assess the demographic situation in Nigeria; and (iii) To support dissemination and utilisation of the results in planning and managing family planning and health programmes. MAIN RESULTS According to the NDHS, fertility remains high in Nigeria; at current fertility levels, Nigerian women will have an average of 6 children by the end of their reproductive years. The total fertility rate may actually be higher than 6.0, due to underestimation of births. In a 1981/82 survey, the total fertility rate was estimated to be 5.9 children per woman. One reason for the high level of fertility is that use of contraception is limited. Only 6 percent of married women currently use a contraceptive method (3.5 percent use a modem method, and 2.5 percent use a traditional method). These levels, while low, reflect an increase over the past decade: ten years ago just 1 percent of Nigerian women were using a modem family planning method. Periodic abstinence (rhythm method), the pill, IUD, and injection are the most popular methods among married couples: each is used by about 1 percent of currently married women. Knowledge of contraception remains low, with less than half of all women age 15-49 knowing of any method. Certain groups of women are far more likely to use contraception than others. For example, urban women are four times more likely to be using a contraceptive method (15 percent) than rural women (4 percent). Women in the Southwest, those with more education, and those with five or more children are also more likely to be using contraception. Levels of fertility and contraceptive use are not likely to change until there is a drop in desired family size and until the idea of reproductive choice is more widely accepted. At present, the average ideal family size is essentially the same as the total fertility rate: six children per woman. Thus, the vast majority of births are wanted. The desire for childbearing is strong: half of women with five children say that they want to have another child. Another factor leading to high fertility is the early age at marriage and childbearing in Nigeria. Half of all women are married by age 17 and half have become mothers by age 20. More than a quarter of teenagers (women age 15-19 years) either are pregnant or already have children. National statistics mask dramatic variations in fertility and family planning between urban and rural areas, among different regions of the country, and by women's educational attainment. Women who are from urban areas or live in the South and those who are better educated want and have fewer children than other women and are more likely to know of and use modem contraception. For example, women in the South are likely to marry and begin childbearing several years later than women in the North. In the North, women continue to follow the traditional pattern and marry early, at a median age of 15, while in the South, women are marrying at a median age of 19 or 20. Teenagers in the North have births at twice the rate of those in the South: 20 births per 1130 women age 15-19 in the North compared to 10 birdas per 100 women in the South. Nearly half of teens in the North have already begun childbearing, versus 14 percent in South. This results in substantially lower total fertility rates in the South: women in the South have, on average, one child less than women in the North (5.5 versus 6.6). The survey also provides information related to maternal and child health. The data indicate that nearly 1 in 5 children dies before their fifth birthday. Of every 1,000 babies born, 87 die during their first year of life (infant mortality rate). There has been little improvement in infant and child mortality during the past 15 years. Mortality is higher in rural than urban areas and higher in the North than in the South. Undemutrition may be a factor contributing to childhood mortality levels: NDHS data show that 43 percent of the children under five are chronically undemourished. These problems are more severe in rural areas and in the North. Preventive and curative health services have yet to reach many women and children. Mothers receive no antenatal care for one-third of births and over 60 percent of all babies arc born at home. Only one-third of births are assisted by doctors, trained nurses or midwives. A third of the infants are never vaccinated, and only 30 percent are fully immunised against childhood diseases. When they are ill, most young children go untreated. For example, only about one-third of children with diarrhoea were given oral rehydration therapy. Women and children living in rural areas and in the North are much less likely than others to benefit from health services. Almost four times as many births in the North are unassisted as in the South, and only one-third as many children complete their polio and DPT vaccinations. Programmes to educate women about the need for antenatal care, immunisation, and proper treatment for sick children should perhaps be aimed at mothers in these areas, Mothers everywhere need to learn about the proper time to introduce various supplementary foods to breastfeeding babies. Nearly all babies are breastfed, however, almost all breastfeeding infants are given water, formula, or other supplements within the first two months of life, which both jeopardises their nutritional status and increases the risk of infection.

In 2021, diarrhea and gastroenteritis of presumed infectious origin was the leading cause of mortality among children aged one to four years old in the Philippines. The number of deaths caused by such disease amounted to 611. The other major causes of child mortality in the country were remainder diseases of sepsis, other tuberculosis, as well as respiratory tuberculosis.

Between 2020 and 2021, depression symptoms among young people in several European countries were more than double compared to adults. Nordic nations, such as Norway, Sweden, and Iceland, showed the largest disparity between young people and adults, with approximately a difference of 25, 21, and 20 percent, respectively. This statistic depicts the share of young people and adults with symptoms of depression in selected European countries in 2020-21

In the United States, the prevalence of mental illness in the past year is more common among females than males and more common among the young than the old. As of 2022, some 26.4 percent of females reported some type of mental illness in the past year, compared to 19.7 percent of males. Common forms of mental illness include depression, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders.

Depression

Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses in the United States. Depression is defined by prolonged feelings of sadness, hopelessness, and despair leading to a loss of interest in activities once enjoyed, a loss of energy, trouble sleeping, and thoughts of death or suicide. It is estimated that around five percent of the U.S. population suffers from depression. Depression is more common among women with around six percent of women suffering from depression compared to four percent of men.

Mental illness and substance abuse

Data has shown that those who suffer from mental illness are more likely to suffer from substance abuse than those without mental illness. Those with mental illness are more likely to use illicit drugs such as heroin and cocaine, and to abuse prescription drugs than those without mental illness. As of 2021, around 7.6 percent of adults in the United States suffered from co-occuring mental illness and substance use disorder.

The mortality rate from influenza in the United States is by far highest among those aged 65 years and older. During the 2022-2023 flu season the mortality rate from influenza for this age group was around 26.6 per 100,000 population.

The burden of influenza The impact of influenza in the U.S. varies from season to season, but in the 2022-2023 flu season there were an estimated 31 million cases. These cases resulted in around 360,000 hospitalizations. Although most people recover from influenza without requiring medical treatment, the disease can be deadly for young children, the elderly, and those with weakened immune systems or chronic illnesses. During the 2022-2023 flu season, around 21,000 people in the U.S. lost their lives due to influenza.

Impact of vaccinations The most effective way to prevent influenza is to receive a yearly vaccination at the beginning of flu season. Flu vaccines are safe and can greatly reduce the burden of the disease. During the 2022-2023 flu season vaccinations prevented around 2,479 deaths among those aged 65 years and older. Although flu vaccines are usually cheap and easily accessible, every year a large share of the population in the U.S. still does not get vaccinated. For example, during the 2021-2022 flu season only about 37 percent of those aged 18 to 49 years received a flu vaccination.