"Not Just a Blip”--JAMA Study Confirms Long-Term Collapse in U.S. Children’s Health—ACIP Member Demands Radical Overhaul/ TrialSite News

Jul. 8, 2025

A blockbuster JAMA study has detonated across both public health and political circles—documenting a disturbing, decade-plus decline in nearly every dimension of U.S. child health. The findings aren’t just troubling—they’re seismic. From mortality and chronic disease to obesity, depression, and menstrual dysfunction, American children are demonstrably sicker than their peers across 18 other developed nations. And things got worse—not better—during the pandemic years.

The study, led by Christopher Forrest, MD, PhD, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and colleagues in both Philadelphia and Los Angeles, used a sweeping array of data sources: U.S. and OECD mortality registries, five national health surveys, and PEDSnet electronic health records from over 2 million pediatric patients. From 2007 to 2023, the picture darkened with each passing year.

Retsef Levi, MIT professor and outspoken ACIP member, in response to the data via X stated, “Radically different public health policies are needed.”

Levi, once marginalized for warning about the darker sides of COVID-19 countermeasures, is now part of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s reformist inner circle. And his call echoes what many inside the administration are whispering: this isn’t a system in decline. It’s one in freefall.

The Data That Won’t Be Ignored

Between 2007 and 2023:

• Child obesity rose from 17% to 20.9% (RR 1.23)

• Early puberty (menstruation before age 12) jumped from 9.1% to 14.8% (RR 1.63)

• Trouble sleeping in teens increased 80%

• Activity-limiting chronic illness rose from 7.7% to 9.1%

• Reported physical symptoms—abdominal pain, fatigue, rashes, and more—rose from 31.2% to 41.2% (RR 1.39)

• Dermatological complaints exploded nearly fivefold

• Pain symptoms tripled

• Menstrual disorders nearly tripled

• Depressive symptoms in high schoolers grew from 26% to nearly 40%

• Reported loneliness jumped 52%

This wasn’t just one survey or cohort—it was the convergence of clinical and epidemiological signals across multiple platforms. And perhaps most damning: U.S. infants and teens were 1.78 and 1.80 times more likely to die than peers in other OECD nations. Firearms, prematurity, and motor vehicle accidents led the fatality gap.

Implications, Contradictions & Urgency

For Kennedy’s critics, the findings are uncomfortable. Many of the trends accelerated in 2021–2023—during a period when children were masked, isolated, heavily medicated, and increasingly vaccinated. While the study stops short of assigning blame, it points to policy-driven determinants—and that’s where things get political.

Levi’s reading is clear: “Public health didn’t just fail to protect—it contributed to the harm.”

But what’s the alternative? The medical establishment, pharmaceutical companies, and entrenched bureaucracies are bracing against calls to dismantle the system. Kennedy’s HHS, however, seems poised to leave a legacy of change—change he hopes is for the better. And this study may provide the rhetorical and scientific firepower to justify sweeping reforms—from dietary regulation and school policy to surveillance of pharmaceutical side effects and environmental toxins.

Conclusion

The message from JAMA is unmistakable: the health of America’s children has deteriorated across nearly every measurable dimension. This is not anecdote. This is evidence. If nothing changes, the trends will continue. The only question now is whether the stewards of the current system will recognize the writing on the wall—or double down on its defense.