COVID-19–Associated Orphanhood and Caregiver Death in the United States

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Pediatrics
• Personal Author:
  Hillis, Susan D ; Blenkinsop, Alexandra ; Villaveces, Andrés ; Annor, Francis B ; Liburd, Leandris ; Massetti, Greta M ; Demissie, Zewditu ; Mercy, James A ; Nelson, Charles A ; Cluver, Lucie ; Flaxman, Seth ; Sherr, Lorraine ; Donnelly, Christl A ; Ratmann, Oliver ; Unwin, H Juliette T
• Description:
  BACKGROUND:
  
  Most coronavirus disease 2019 (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 United States 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 coresiding grandparents, overall and by race and ethnicity. We further examined variations in COVID-19–associated orphanhood by race and ethnicity for each state.
  
  RESULTS:
  
  We found that from April 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021, >140 000 children in the United States 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 minority groups compared with non-Hispanic White children. The highest burden of COVID-19–associated death of parents and caregivers occurred in Southern border states for Hispanic children, in Southeastern states for Black children, and in states with tribal areas for American Indian and/or 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 child care, 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.
  
  
• Source:
  Pediatrics. 148(6)
• Pubmed ID:
  34620728
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC10896160
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/ ; MC_PC_19012/MRC_/Medical Research CouncilUnited Kingdom/ ; MR/R015600/1/MRC_/Medical Research CouncilUnited Kingdom/ ; R34 DA050289/DA/NIDA NIH HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  148
• Issue:
  6
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:97c87fb99697f948c8de4db19ec6ce4df70d822aa2d33fb3aa120f6187cac931
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/149650/cdc_149650_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.65 MB ]