Child deaths in England rising above pre-pandemic levels, study finds
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Number surges after temporary decline during lockdowns, with rate higher for children from non-white backgrounds. Child deaths in England have risen to new levels after a temporary fall during the Covid-19 pandemic, a study has found. The study, published in the PLOS Medicine journal, shows children were less likely to die between April 2020 and March 2021, a period when lockdowns were in place, than at any time before or since. There were 377 fewer deaths than expected from the previous 12-month period.
However, while the number of deaths in the following year, 2021-22, was similar to before the pandemic, in 2022-23, there were 258 more deaths than expected from 2020-21 period, researchers at the University of Bristol found using the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD).
The study also found that the relative rate of dying for children from non-white backgrounds, compared with white children, was now higher than before or during the pandemic. The increase could be down to a range of changes including circulating diseases returning to pre-pandemic levels, end of enhanced health-related behaviour changes such as enhanced hand washing, or withdrawal of wider, state-based enhanced social support, which benefited the most socially vulnerable families.
Karen Luyt, programme director for the NCMD and professor of neonatal medicine at the University of Bristol, said: “These stark findings demonstrate that, for most children and most causes of death, the reduction in mortality that was seen during the pandemic was only temporary.
