American kids increasingly unhealthy over nearly two decades: new study
Laura Ungar and Jonel Aleccia in Associated Press, Jul 2025
“The health of U.S. children has deteriorated over the past 17 years, with kids today more likely to have obesity, chronic diseases and mental health problems like depression, a new study says. Much of what researchers found was already known, but the study paints a comprehensive picture by examining various aspects of children’s physical and mental health at the same time.
“The surprising part of the study wasn’t any with any single statistic; it was that there’s 170 indicators, eight data sources, all showing the same thing: a generalized decline in kids’ health,” said Dr. Christopher Forrest, one of the authors of the study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has brought children’s health to the forefront of the national policy conversation, unveiling in May a much-anticipated “Make America Healthy Again” report that described kids as undernourished and overmedicated and raised concerns about their lack of physical activity. But the Trump administration’s actions – including cuts to federal health agencies, Medicaid and scientific research – are not likely to reverse the trend, according to outside experts who reviewed Monday’s study.
“The health of kids in America is not as good as it should be, not as good as the other countries, and the current policies of this administration are definitely going to make it worse,” said Dr. Frederick Rivara, a pediatrician and researcher at the Seattle Children’s Hospital and UW Medicine in Seattle. He co-authored an editorial accompanying the new study.
Forrest and his colleagues analyzed surveys, electronic health records from 10 pediatric health systems and international mortality statistics. Among their findings…”
