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  • OUTLOOK

No adult left behind: bridge the health-care gap for sickle-cell disease

The United States has reduced child mortality from this condition — but comprehensive care for adults has not kept pace.
  1. Julian Nowogrodzki

    1. Julian Nowogrodzki is Nature’s Impact Editor.

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Sickle-cell disease was once a childhood ailment, simply because many children with the condition died before reaching adulthood. But, since 1972, when the US National Sickle Cell Disease Program was founded and specific funding became available, the United States has managed to drastically reduce childhood deaths from the disease. Between 1979 and 2005, the death rate for children with the disorder dropped by an average of 3% per year1.

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Nature 596, S13-S15 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02143-z

This article is part of Nature Outlook: Sickle-cell disease, an editorially independent supplement produced with the financial support of third parties. About this content.

References

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