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Child & Adolescent Health
15th Jan, 2026
The Lancet
During a recent intensive care unit (ICU) admission for an infant with viral bronchiolitis who had been started on high-flow nasal cannula oxygen, I gathered a history and physical with a resident doctor. The patient's mother, a first-time parent and clearly terrified by her child's laboured breathing, looked at me and asked, “Is she going to be okay?” Drawing on the many similar cases I’ve managed, I replied, “Yes. She's going to be just fine.” After we left the room, the resident turned to me and said, “I feel like you lied to that mom.
“Will what we're working on in the long term improve child health, particularly in underserved children? If it's not going to achieve that goal then there is no point.” This question is what paediatric physician-scientist Chandy John asks himself. In October 2025, he was elected to the prestigious National Academy of Medicine for his contributions to global health, specifically in severe malaria and sickle cell disease in African children. “A huge honour”, he says; “I can't think of anything more important to be part of right now, being on the vanguard of safeguarding the importance of evidence-based public health policy”.
I wish to raise several concerns regarding the recent analysis by Alexia Sampri and colleagues on vascular and inflammatory disease after COVID-19 infection and vaccination in children and young people in England.1 There are notable inconsistencies between the reported results and other national data, as well as methodological limitations that could materially affect the conclusions. Importantly, the analysis treats infection and vaccination as mutually exclusive exposures, although vaccination did not prevent infection.
The thorough study by Alexia Sampri and colleagues1 that looked at vascular and inflammatory illnesses in children and young people after COVID-19 infection and vaccination piqued our curiosity. We applaud the authors for this crucial population-based investigation. However, we found a disparity between the data supplied and the reported conclusions that needs to be corrected.
In this cohort study,1 based on the whole English population younger than 18 years, Alexia Sampri and colleagues addressed a topic of great interest. However, their interpretation that the “findings…support the public health strategy of COVID-19 vaccination in children and young people” is not transparent. Indeed, they state that “crude incidence rates for all outcomes, with the exception of myocarditis or pericarditis, were generally lower for those who were vaccinated than unvaccinated” (p 844).
In March, 2024, Rumble and colleagues argued that adolescent girls were not receiving the support they need to thrive, and transformative, girl-led solutions are essential not only to improve adolescent girls’ lives, but also to drive sustained change for societies.1 New evidence has strengthened this case, showing that investing in adolescent girls yields national-level gains across health, education, violence prevention, and economic growth. Yet, just as the evidence has grown stronger, support for adolescent girls has weakened.
Adolescents and young adults with diverse sexual and gender identities bear a disproportionate burden of health adversities.1 Although 90% of adolescents live in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), population-based health survey data among young people of a sexual or gender minority are rare in these settings.2–4 We use the term sexual or gender minority to refer to young people with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions; and the term minority to signal that these populations are often underrepresented in population-based research, despite the tireless efforts of activists, scientists, and leaders to ensure the right of sexual and gender minorities to be counted.
The digital lives of young people are deeply entwined with their social, emotional, and academic development. Online platforms have become central to how young people communicate, share experiences, and sustain peer relationships.1 Yet the same environments that enable connection can also be used to ridicule, exclude, or harm others. Cybervictimisation, which includes behaviour such as online harassment, denigration, and the circulation of hurtful content, has become a pressing public health concern, with prevalence estimates worldwide ranging from 14% to 57%.
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia has been used to define the respiratory consequences of preterm birth since 1967.1 Since then, the definition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia has been adapted to account for changes in neonatal intensive care.1 Common to all bronchopulmonary dysplasia definitions is their assessment at a single timepoint, currently 36 weeks post-menstrual age.2 Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is not a singular pathological process, and current definitions do not consider the dynamic changes in respiratory health and treatments before this timepoint.
A staggering 1·01 billion individuals aged 15 years and older reported being exposed to sexual violence during childhood, according to new analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study (GBD) 2023 of the health burden associated with sexual violence against children. Exposure to violence starts early: UNICEF estimates that nearly 400 million children under age 5 years (60% globally) regularly face psychological aggression or physical punishment at home, and by age 18 years one in five girls and one in seven boys have already experienced sexual violence.
Diabetes & Endocrinology
The prevalence of overweight and obesity in China has continued to increase over the last decade, with mounting health and economic consequences. In this Personal View, we critically examine recent advances and identify current and emerging challenges in obesity across public health and policy, clinical research, and practice. National policy frameworks, technical health and nutrition guidelines, and multisectoral collaboration have elevated obesity on the public agenda. Evidence supporting lifestyle interventions and medications for obesity continues to accumulate.
Insulin resistance increases after the first trimester of pregnancy, leading to glycaemic challenges for women with pregestational type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes. Additionally, insulin resistance can promote hyperglycaemia in pregnant women without type 1 diabetes or type 2 diabetes, who develop gestational diabetes. Although most (>95%) women with diabetes deliver healthy babies, maternal dysglycaemia can have consequences for the mother and child, including prenatal, perinatal, immediate, and long-term postnatal complications.
In 2024, one in nine adults worldwide was living with diabetes. The number of adults with diabetes in 2024 exceeded 500 million and is projected to rise to close to 900 million by 2050. As the diabetes epidemic has continued unchecked since the turn of the millennium, stronger efforts are needed to slow its progression, with strategies tailored appropriately across countries and population groups.
le Roux CW, Steen O, Lucas KJ, Startseva E, Unseld A, Hennige AM. Glucagon and GLP-1 receptor dual agonist survodutide for obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-finding phase 2 trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2024; 12: 162–73—In table 3 of this Article, row 11 should have read “32 (10%)” for the survodutide total column. This correction has been made to the online version as of Dec 17, 2025.
In September, 2025, member states finalised the text for the first UN political declaration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and mental health. There were targets on access to essential medicines, national strategies, NCD and mental health surveillance systems, and financial protections. However, the proposed target for taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, which appeared in an early draft of the declaration, was removed from the final version. A recommendation on front-of-pack labelling did survive the negotiations, as did one on protecting “children from the harmful impact of food marketing, including digital marketing”.
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