Child Mortality in Maryland

Maryland

Most childhood deaths are preventable. The leading causes of death among U.S. children ages 1-19 in 2019-2021 were accidents (unintentional injuries), homicide, suicide, cancer and congenital abnormalities. Of the injury deaths, the leading mechanisms of injury were firearms, followed by motor vehicle traffic and poisoning. The U.S. is the only nation among its peers where firearms are the leading cause of child mortality.

According to America’s Health Rankings data, the rate of child mortality is higher among:

• Youth ages 15-19, who have the highest mortality rate, followed by those ages 1-4 and 5-14.
• Boys, who have a rate nearly twice as high as girls.
• Non-Hispanic American Indian/Alaska Native and Black youth, who have a rate four times that of Asian youth, the group with the lowest rate.

To combat accidents as the leading cause of child mortality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published strategies that include proper use of car seats, booster seats and seat belts to reduce car crash injuries, drowning prevention tips; and familial and school support to reduce substance use and related injury. The CDC also provides a listing of effective and promising youth violence-prevention strategies including universal school-based programs — also recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force — to reduce violence. Family members commit most homicides of young children, while acquaintances are more likely to kill older children. 

Youth suicide is preventable. Suicide rates for at-risk youth can be substantially reduced by:

• Knowing the signs. Four out of 5 suicide deaths are preceded by warning signs such as suicidal threats, previous suicide attempts, depression, preoccupation or obsession with death or making final arrangements. 
• Schools are implementing school-based mental health services. These programs help students achieve academically besides building social skills, self-awareness and leadership. 
• Making it more difficult to die in an act of deliberate self-harm. Interventions include building suicide barriers on bridges, removing guns from homes with at-risk youth and lethal means counseling. 

Further, Youth.gov provides several resources on preventing youth suicide.

Healthy People 2030 has an objective to decrease child mortality.

Curtin, Sally C., and Melonie Heron. “Death Rates Due to Suicide and Homicide Among Persons Aged 10-24: United States, 2000-2017.” NCHS Data Brief No. 352. Hyattsville, MD: National Center for Health Statistics, October 2019. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db352.htm.

Goldstick, Jason E., Rebecca M. Cunningham, and Patrick M. Carter. “Current Causes of Death in Children and Adolescents in the United States.” New England Journal of Medicine 386, no. 20 (May 19, 2022): 1955–56. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMc2201761.

“National Action Plan for Child Injury Prevention: An Agenda to Prevent Injuries and Promote the Safety of Children and Adolescents in the United States.” Atlanta, GA: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, 2012. https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/12060.

Task Force on Community Preventive Services. “A Recommendation to Reduce Rates of Violence Among School-Aged Children and Youth by Means of Universal School-Based Violence Prevention Programs.” American Journal of Preventive Medicine 33, no. 2, Supplement (August 1, 2007): S112–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2007.04.014.

Woolf, Steven H., Elizabeth R. Wolf, and Frederick P. Rivara. “The New Crisis of Increasing All-Cause Mortality in US Children and Adolescents.” JAMA 329, no. 12 (March 28, 2023): 975. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2023.3517.