Prioritizing Research to Reduce Mortality for Infants and the Broader US Population

Abstract

In the US, life expectancy at birth is declining, and death rates increased for almost every age group in 2021 compared with 2020. 1 These trends reflect mortality attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, certainly, and also worsening mortality rates for the US population that began prior to 2020. 2 Patterns of mortality often spur researchers, health care workers, and public health practitioners to action. The study by Agha et al 3 offers a welcome focus on potential mortality benefit for infants born at very low birth weight (VLBW) (<1500 g). As a group, infants have a higher mortality rate than older children, adolescents, and adults younger than age 55 years in the US-a reminder of the vulnerability of the youngest young-and the mortality risk for infants with VLBW is several times higher than for infants of normal birth weight. Agha and colleagues analyzed data from + Related articleAuthor affiliations and article information are listed at the end of this article.