Hillis, SD;
Blenkinsop, A;
Villaveces, A;
Annor, FB;
Liburd, L;
Massetti, GM;
Demissie, Z;
... Unwin, HJT; + view all
(2021)
COVID-19-Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Death in the United States.
Pediatrics
10.1542/peds.2021-053760.
(In press).
Preview |
Text
peds.2021-053760.full.pdf - Accepted Version Download (19MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: Most COVID-19 deaths occur among adults, not children, and attention has focused on mitigating COVID-19 burden among adults. However, a tragic consequence of adult deaths is that high numbers of children might lose their parents and caregivers to COVID-19- associated deaths. Methods: We quantified COVID-19-associated caregiver loss and orphanhood in the US and for each state using fertility and excess and COVID-19 mortality data. We assessed burden and rates of COVID-19-associated orphanhood and deaths of custodial and co-residing grandparents, overall and by race/ethnicity. We further examined variations in COVID-19-associated orphanhood by race/ethnicity for each state. Results: We found that from April 1, 2020 through June 30, 2021, over 140,000 children in the US experienced the death of a parent or grandparent caregiver. The risk of such loss was 1.1 to 4.5 times higher among children of racial and ethnic minorities, compared to Non-Hispanic White children. The highest burden of COVID-19-associated death of parents and caregivers occurred in Southern border states for Hispanic children, Southeastern states for Black children, and in states with tribal areas for American Indian/Alaska Native populations. Conclusions: We found substantial disparities in distributions of COVID-19-associated death of parents and caregivers across racial and ethnic groups. Children losing caregivers to COVID-19 need care and safe, stable, and nurturing families with economic support, quality childcare and evidence-based parenting support programs. There is an urgent need to mount an evidence-based comprehensive response focused on those children at greatest risk, in the states most affected.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | COVID-19-Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Death in the United States |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1542/peds.2021-053760 |
| Publisher version: | http://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-053760 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health > Infection and Population Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10137472 |
Archive Staff Only
 |
View Item |
